‘Something particularly psychopathic about the lie and the crime’: Bishara

Israel’s latest killings of journalists in Gaza are an addition to a long list of criminality, said Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara.

“We at Al Jazeera do not want to be the story; we are forced to be the story because of the criminality of the Israeli government,” he said.

He said that while Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif was reporting “every minute of the day” and while Israeli claims he was a Hamas member were lies, several other journalists were killed alongside him even though Israel had not made any allegations against them.

“Why assassinate him when he is among his colleagues? How many more journalists is it acceptable to kill as collateral damage?” Bishara asked.

“There is something particularly psychopathic about the lie and about the crime.”

He said al-Sharif is part of the fabric of Jabalia, the refugee camp where he comes from, whose residents have sacrificed their lives for the past six decades. Bishara said the timing of the killings was no coincidence either, as media reports have put Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu under significant international pressure as he plans to seize Gaza City.