Silencing truth-tellers: Israel massacres 25 Yemeni journalists in a deadliest media attack

By Yousef Ramazani

In a blatant and horrific escalation of its regional campaign of terror, the Israeli regime on Wednesday carried out one of the deadliest attacks on media persons in modern history, deliberately targeting and killing at least 25 Yemeni journalists in Sana’a.

The egregious assault, which destroyed the offices of the Al-Yaman and 26 September newspapers, is the latest systematic attack on journalists in the region, constituting a grave war crime.

It’s the most deadly attack on journalists anywhere in the world since November 2009, when 32 journalists were killed in what came to be known as the Maguindanao massacre.

A total of 58 people were killed in that attack, including 32 journalists and media professionals, making it the single deadliest attack on journalists ever recorded.

In Gaza, more than 250 journalists have been killed since October 2023 in an attempt to silence the voices documenting the ongoing Israeli-American genocidal war.

Yemen, a nation that has steadfastly stood in solidarity with the Palestinian people facing a brutal genocide, has now itself become a victim of the same murderous machinery.

Among the martyrs are well-known reporters, including Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh, Abdullah Al-Bahri, Mohammed Al-Omeisi, Sami Al-Zaidi, Faris Al-Rumaisa, Mohammed Al-Dawi, Youssef Shams Al-Din, Abdul Qawi Al-Asfour, Abdullah Al-Harazi, Zuhair Mohammed Al-Zakri, Lutf Hadiyan, Ali Al-Aqil, Mohammed Ahmed Al-Zakri, Murad Halboub, Jamal Al-Adhi, Abdo Al-Saadi, Salim Al-Watiri, Amal Al-Manakhy, Mohammed Al-Sanfi, Essam Al-Hashidi and his young son, Mohammed Hamoud Al-Matari, Abdul Wali Al-Najjar, Abdulaziz Shas, Bashir Dublan, and Abbas Al-Dailami.

The Yemeni Journalists Union, in a statement, strongly condemned the targeting of media organizations, which resulted in the martyrdom of 46 Yemeni civilians.

Human rights activists have described it as the deliberate extension of Israel’s well-documented policy of murdering journalists, a policy it has perfected during its ongoing genocide in Gaza.

The Israeli military’s attempt to justify the aggression by falsely labeling civilian news offices as “military public relations headquarters” has been described as a blatant lie, underscoring its long-standing strategy of deploying disinformation to cover deliberate attacks on press freedom.

Yemen’s media workers have already endured immense suffering over the years, but this gruesome attack highlights both the ruthlessness of the Israeli regime and its desperation over losses in Gaza.

Experts say the international community’s continued failure to hold the Israeli regime accountable for its decades-long targeting of journalists with impunity has emboldened this latest outrage, marking a catastrophic collapse of global governance and a shameful complicity in the silencing of truth.

Organizations such as the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders have documented the Zionist regime’s deadliest and deliberate campaign against journalists but these organizations have also been criticized for under-reporting the real casualty toll.

By silencing the press in Yemen, experts maintain, the Israeli regime seeks to erase documentation of its regional campaign of terror, war crimes, and violations of international law, ensuring its brutal actions from Gaza to Sanaa unfold without witness or consequence.

The resistance of the Yemeni people—who have targeted ships in solidarity with Gaza—has angered the apartheid regime, leading to this aggression and the recent assassination of Yemeni leadership

Yemeni journalists have called on the United Nations and international human rights bodies to condemn this war crime, launch an independent investigation to hold the perpetrators accountable, and end an Israeli policy of impunity that fuels violence against the press.

Commentators in Yemen are urging journalists’ unions worldwide—particularly the Arab Journalists Union and the International Federation of Journalists—to raise their voices in unison and stand in solidarity with Yemeni and Palestinian reporters who face systematic targeting simply for doing their jobs.

Genocide scholars, human rights organizations, and legal experts overwhelmingly agree that the Israeli regime is committing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza. The attack on journalists in Yemen is a logical extension of this same genocidal strategy, designed to eliminate testimony and evidence.

This assault is not an isolated incident but a premeditated act within a broader escalation of Israeli aggression across the region, calculated to spread terror and instability while attempting to crush all forms of resistance and solidarity with the Palestinian cause.

The blood of Yemeni journalists, like that of their Palestinian colleagues, stains the hands of the Israeli war machine and exposes the true nature of a regime that thrives in darkness and depends on silence to sustain its projects of occupation, apartheid, and genocide.

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