Wednesday, August 28, 2024

The assassinations of The Two Ismails : Ismail Al-Ghoul’s (Al-Rifi and Al-Shawa too) assassination

Three weeks ago, I got the news in Cairo on my mobile phone before it was aired on Al-Jazeera.

A notification popped up on my iPhone screen, making me rush to tune back into the Al-Jazeera TV channel after having turned it off.

The TV had been on since early morning, as the whole family was following the news of Ismail Haniyah’s assassination in Tehran. No one expected anything significant to happen on the same day.

"Al-Jazeera correspondent in North Gaza Ismail Al-Ghoul is killed in an Israeli airstrike," read the notification, which had come directly from one of the on-ground Gaza Telegram groups.

I quickly turned on Al-Jazeera's Arabic channel and found the presenter, Rola Ibrahim, speaking live with guests from Tehran and the West Bank about the impact of Haniyah’s assassination on the war in Gaza.

Ismail Al-Ghoul and Ramy El-Rifi
Ismail Al-Ghoul and Ramy El-Rifi 

Meanwhile, the news spread rapidly on social media, with reporters and photographers sharing updates online. Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sherif confirmed the news on Twitter.

“**Breaking News**: My brother and beloved Al Jazeera correspondent Ismail Al-Ghoul, along with photographer Rami Al-Rifi, were martyred in an Israeli airstrike that targeted them in Gaza City,” 

Then came the official announcement from Al Jazeera online from its managing director MOhamed Moawad.

I believe it was about 10 to 20 minutes after receiving the Telegram notification that I saw the Syrian TV presenter, visibly shocked, reading the news on the teleprompter live on air.

Now, Ibrahim had to announce that Ismail Al-Ghoul was killed in an Israeli airstrike along with cameraman Ramy Rafi.

The last report Al-Ghoul sent from North Gaza covered how people in the Al-Shati Refugee Camp were mourning Ismail Haniyah earlier that day at Haniyah’s own destroyed house.

It was yet another daily manifestation of Mahmoud Darwish’s verses about Gaza:

"And if they ask you about Gaza, tell them:
In it, there is a martyr,
nursed by a martyr,
photographed by a martyr,
sent off by a martyr,
and prayed for by a martyr."

Al-Shati camp already witnessed how the Israeli army killed nearly 100 members of Haniyah family including three sons and eight grandchildren before killing him in Tehran.

Nobody knew that Al-Ghoul, along with his cameraman and a young Palestinian teen, would join Haniyah and his guard less than 24 hours after the assassination in Tehran.

Al-Jazeera halted its coverage of Haniyah’s assassination to focus on one of their own. Once again, a journalist from Al-Jazeera has become the news in the worst possible way.

Once again, a Palestinian journalist has been killed by the Israeli army.

Once again, an Al-Jazeera correspondent in the occupied Palestinian territories has been killed. Once again, another Al-Jazeera correspondent mourns a colleague and friend on air.

Anas Al-Sharif carrying the body of Al-Ghoul in the funeral.
Anas Al-Sharif carrying the body of Al-Ghoul in the funeral. 

Anas Al-Sharif mourned his friend, who had become like a brother over the past ten months, while struggling to hold back tears in the air.

Once again, we saw the body of the Al-Jazeera correspondent on a stretcher, wrapped in a shroud.

At that time, the body was headless—yes, Ismail Al-Ghoul lost his head.

The drone strike had blown off his head while he was in the car with his cameraman, Rami Al-Rifi.

I watched a video of the first responders rushing to the car after the drone strike. It was a horrifying moment for me and others to see Ismail’s once calm, smiling face reduced to pieces.

The attack did not kill Al-Ghoul and Al-Rifi alone.

It also claimed the life of a teenage boy named Khaled El-Shawa.

“My son is not an unnamed martyr. My son's name is Khaled Saed Al-Shawa.We are not just numbers.” said Khaled El-Shawa’s mother.

Khaled El-Shawa
Khaled El-Shawa

Khaled, the only son of his parents who had three daughters, was on his bicycle on his way back to where his family was staying in refuge.

He had been delivering food to his elderly neighbor, who lived alone and could not come to the refuge.

The press vest did not protect Al-Ghoul any more than it protected other Palestinian journalists, starting with Shireen Abu Akleh may Allah bless her soul.

Al-Ghoul and Rami Al-Rifi were the 165th and 166th journalists killed in Gaza. So far, at least 175 Palestinian journalists have been killed, with no fewer than two journalists dying every two weeks in Gaza.

According to some Palestinian activists, the targeting of Palestinian journalists did not begin with the Gaza war or the assassination of Shireen Abu Akleh. It actually started with the assassination of Palestinian writer and journalist Ghassan Kanafani on July 8, 1972.

The Israeli army does not allow foreign journalists into Gaza except for a few who adopt their narrative.

For nearly ten months, Ismail Al-Ghoul and Anas Al-Sharif became our new TV friends from North Gaza and on personal level they became best buddies if not brothers in time of war.

It is heartbreaking to see how Al-Sharif mourned his best buddy adding to his ongoing trauma another layer.

Al-Sharif carrying both Al Jazeera mic and his buddy's body
Al-Sharif carrying both Al Jazeera mic and his buddy's body 

Al-Sharif gained widespread respect and became an Arab household name after covering the killing of his father, Sheikh Gamal Al-Sharif in December while praying at their house inside Jabaliya Refugee Camp in December due to Israeli shelling.

Meanwhile, Ismail Al-Ghoul, who also lost his father and brother in the current war, became another household name with his reports and gentle smile.

The last photo of Ismail Al-Ghoul taken by photographer Ahmed Hamden
The last photo of Ismail Al-Ghoul
taken by photographer Ahmed 
Hamden 

In ten months of excellent work, the journalism major graduate of the Islamic University in Gaza had produced reports that could have earned him a Pulitzer, including his coverage of the tragic killing of little Hend Ragab and the Israeli siege of Al-Shifaa Hospital

The fact that the Israeli army released Al-Ghoul in March undermines their later claims that he was an elite member of Hamas.

During the siege of Al-Shifaa Hospital in March, Al-Ghoul was arrested by the Israeli army but was released after interrogation. He was beaten during his arrest before being let go.

Many believe that the Israeli army killed Al-Ghoul, Al-Rifi, and the young teen because of Al-Ghoul’s reporting in North Gaza.

Here is a reel compilation released by Al-Jazeera showcasing the young man’s work on video.

Ismail’s brother Khaled Al-Ghoul was killed in his house in March in an Israeli shelling in West Gaza.

Ismail’s father Maher Al-Ghoul died from cancer in May in an Al-Arish hospital in Egypt’s North Sinai, far from him, after waiting for months to be allowed to leave Gaza for proper treatment. He could not bid farewell to his father, nor was he able to attend the funeral.

Ismail Al-Ghoul leaves behind a wife and a one-year-old daughter named Zeina, who only saw her father on TV and via mobile phones for the past ten months.

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Zeina’s mother took her and decided to head to South Gaza for safety with her family, while Al-Ghoul stayed in North Gaza, covering events for Al-Jazeera.

Ismail was friendly to the children of North Gaza. He saw his daughter in their little eyes. 

Ismail Al-Ghoul interviewing a little cheerful Palestinian girl
Ismail Al-Ghoul interviewing a little cheerful Palestinian girl 

We remember him as a fine active journalist but many remember and will remember him as the man who saved their children’s lives. 

Several children including cancer patients were evacuated to receive treatment in countries like Egypt and Qatar only because of Al-Ghoul’s reports on Al Jazeera TV channel as well as clips on his social media accounts asking for their evacuation.

Among those children , 4-years-old Zeina who cried a lot upon hearing the news that uncle Ismail was killed.

Besides his video coverage, Al-Ghoul was a talented writer whose words conveyed deep meanings and emotions, reflecting the situation in Gaza in Arabic. People remember how he wasn’t shy about expressing the feelings of hunger as the North suffered from a famine.

On February 21, he wrote those words on his social media account and it became his most famous quotes in his short life.

“I am not ashamed to talk about our hunger.
I am not ashamed to stand in front of the camera and say that we are hungry like the rest of the people.
Hunger does not disgrace us; the disgrace is in those who abandoned us.”

On June 23, Ismail Al-Ghoul said that he was exhausted.

“Let me tell you, my friend, that I no longer know the taste of sleep. The bodies of children, the dismembered limbs, and the images of blood are almost always before my eyes. The cries of mothers, the weeping of men, and their anguish never leave my ears.

I can't get past the sound of children beneath the rubble, unable to forget the voice of the little girl that echoes in every moment, becoming like a nightmare.

It's terrifying to stand before the lifeless, the trapped, the stretched out, and the piled-up bodies. Even more terrifying is passing by those who are still alive, struggling with death beneath their homes, unable to find a way out or a means of escape.

I'm exhausted, my friend...”

On 15 July , he and Ramy Al-Rifi were surprised to find figs coming out of the earth in amidst of the war giving them hope.

Working for Al-Jazeera as a young journalist is a huge dream, but it comes with a cost, especially if you are doing your job as it should be in a war zone like Gaza, covering endless daily war crimes.

Personally, I’m concerned about Anas Al-Sharif. His father was killed in an Israeli airstrike in December at the Jabaliya camp. It was shocking to see a reporter cover his own father’s killing and the destruction of their home live on air.

Like Ismail Al-Ghoul, Anas Al-Sharif is a young father with a little daughter and a baby boy.

Anas Al-Sharif is now the target of the Israeli army.

That photo of Al-Sharif at Al-Tabin school aftering covering the Israeli massacre at the school-turned-tin refuge became viral in the Arab world
That photo of Al-Sharif at Al-Tabin school aftering covering the Israeli massacre at 
the school-turned-tin refuge became viral in the Arab world 

This belief was reinforced by direct threats from the Israeli army’s Arabic spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, to Anas Al-Sharif a week after the assassination of Ismail Al-Ghoul. The young reporter was among the first to cover the horrifying Al-Tabin massacre.

Nevertheless Anas Al-Sharif got a message to the Israeli army.

8 days after the assassination of Ismail Al-Ghoul, Al-Rifi and Al-Shawa , Anas Al-Sharif quoted an old tweet saying "We are still here, remaining, and we will not leave." In his old tweet from January he wrote "We shall remain as long as thyme and olive trees endure."

“We are still here , remaining , and we will not leave

We shall remain as long as thyme and olive trees endure”

are actually verses from a famous poem by Palestinian poet Khaled Said.

Those two verses have become one of the most phrases associated with the recent Palestinian struggle and resistance.

In some cruel irony , Ismail Al-Ghoul photographed a graffiti in North Gaza featuring in Arabic those words “We shall remain as long as thyme and olive trees endure” on 6 July.

 

“These are not just words. They were written after a torrent of bloodshed, following 273 days of trying to withstand genocide. These are families that refused to leave their land and abandon their homes, even if they were destroyed. They rejected displacement and withstood three successive military operations, which demolished most residential neighborhoods. And what can we say about the siege of homeowners and the starvation inflicted upon them?

I do not claim that their land is more precious than their lives, but they are steadfast defenders of their land and nation. Everyone knows how they resisted displacement and the plan to evacuate the north.

Here is the city of Gaza, which has been obliterated, divided, isolated, starved, and witnessed the peak of brutal genocide.” Al-Ghoul commented on the graffiti in Arabic.

The Israeli army claimed that Ismail Al-Ghoul was a Hamas fighter, part of its Nukhba, or elite unit in English, offering as proof yet another list full of Palestinian names, including Al-Ghoul’s.

However, as usual, they missed something—the date on the list in Arabic went back to 2007 when Al-Ghoul was just ten years old. “No, there are no child soldiers among Hamas ranks, regardless of the kids wearing camouflage in its old parades.”

Ironically, the Israeli army didn’t lie about one detail. Ismail Al-Ghoul was indeed a Nukhba—but not a Hamas Nukhba. He was a Nukhba journalist, an elite journalist.

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1 comment:

  1. Anonymous8/28/2024 01:17:00 PM

    Not a single neutral journalist in Gaza. Any criticism of the genocidal cult would mean instant death. They are all propagandists. If you chose a side be prepared to die for their cause. The world won't miss you.

    ReplyDelete

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