Rachel Shabi Defends Gaza Journalists’ Reporting, Blasts Israel For Obstructing International Media Access
Journalist Rachel Shabi accused Israel of wanting to carry out its “operations in the dark” during a heated Sky News exchange over verifying death toll numbers sourced from on-the-ground authorities and a decision by the country’s Supreme Court to refuse international journalists entry to Gaza.
Shabi appeared on Sky News across from fellow guest lawyer Natasha Hausdorff, director of UK Lawyers for Israel, who began by arguing that Gaza was not safe for journalists but also that casualty data from Gaza-based journalists was unreliable and merely “parroting Hamas propaganda.”
Sky News host Yalda Hakim began by asking Hausdroff whether international media organisations “should be given access” furthering that “the whole point of it is that we bear witness and see what’s going on so we can report for ourselves.”
The lawyer replied: “We’ve just heard confirmation in that interview that journalists have had levels of access. We’ve seen [BBC International Editor] Jeremy Bowen reporting. We’ve seen Jeremy Bowen reporting embedded with the IDF, other journalists… Clearly, the issue is a security situation. Israel suffered two fatalities only this morning amongst the soldiers that were operating in the north of Gaza, which we were told had been cleared of Hamas, of course, long before that… I mean, that’s clearly not a safe environment for any journalist to be reporting.”
Hakim added: “As a journalist, I know embeds, I’ve done them with the Americans, I’ve done them with Afghan forces, with Iraqi forces, you’re controlled to a level. And I think that’s part of the point of what journalists are trying to say.”
Hausdorff continued: “And the critical issue here, and I absolutely agree with this element of it, what we have had from the Palestinian journalists on the ground so far, unfortunately, is parroting Hamas propaganda…
The host pointed out that President Joe Biden had quoted the figures of 28,000 dead as a result of the conflict, but the lawyer pushed back: “I think it’s extremely problematic when those numbers are not independently verified and reliant on Hamas-controlled authorities.”
Hakim then deferred to Shabi: “I think this is a willful misunderstanding of how journalism works frankly. And I think this is a perfect sweet spot for the Israeli army… The Palestinian journalists in Gaza are doing an incredible job trying to get the truth out to the world, while their own families and colleagues are being killed.”
The host asked: “Does the IDF have a point, though, that it’s a security risk?”
Shabi replied: “No, that’s your decision to make. That’s your risk and your organisation’s risk. That’s your decision. What israel wants is to carry out these operations in the dark number one. And number two, facilitate the kind of nonsense that Natasha is coming out which is, ‘oh, we can’t possibly verify any of this.’”
After Hausdorff raised the international media’s “debunked” claims that Israel was responsible for the bombing of al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, the pair began to dispute the data on Hamas and civilian deaths.
Shabi repeated that Hausdorff was displaying a “willful misunderstanding of how journalism, verification and sourcing works.”
She defended using figures from the Gaza Health Ministry, which announced Thursday the death toll had surpassed 30,000 killed, arguing: “Those figures have checked out in the past. They checked out in 2008. They checked out in 2014. They checked out in 2012… When they were disputed they diligently wrote out a list [of those killed], ID numbers, which Israel has because Israel controls the register. We use those sources for the same reason we use any other source.”
As Hausdorff disputed who had killed the civilians, Shabi asked: “Who is dropping the bombs on Gaza? Which country? Which government? has dropped in the first few months of the war the equivalent of three nuclear bombs on Gaza.”
She continued: “We are talking about women and children, tens and thousands of women and children who are being killed, maimed, orphaned, terrorised and tortured. That is happening because Israeli army bombs are obliterating houses and every sign of infrastructure in Gaza. You cannot blame anyone else for that.”
