Bombing of Al-Ahli Arabi Baptist Hospital

On October 17, 2023, in a horrifying and reprehensible act - Israel bombed a hospital in Gaza, which was filled with children, the elderly, and injured civilians. The strike on Al-Ahli Arabi Baptist Hospital in Gaza prompted condemnation from countries around the world. Even US satellite regimes in Jordan and Egypt felt compelled to speak out against Israel's latest, blatant war crime.

Authorities in the besieged Gaza Strip attributed the hospital explosion to an Israeli airstrike, while the Israeli military asserted that it was the result of a stray rocket fired by the Palestinian resistance group, Islamic Jihad.

Hananya Naftali, a digital aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, initially admitted on X that Israel had targeted the hospital, writing, "Israeli Air Force struck a Hamas terrorist base inside a hospital in Gaza," but then quickly removed the post. Later, Naftali expressed regret for sharing "a Reuters report" that "falsely stated Israel struck the hospital." He claimed, "As the IDF does not bomb hospitals, I assumed Israel was targeting one of the Hamas bases in Gaza," adding, "It is known that Hamas is using civilians as human shields; it is a war crime and a crime against humanity. This should be the focus.”

All Signs Lead to Israel

The global community appeared divided on attributing responsibility for the attack. Supporters of Israel in the Western nations pointed fingers at Hamas, whereas Arab nations and other supporters of the Palestinians asserted that Israel bore the responsibility. Al Jazeera, a news outlet based in Qatar, has extensively covered the conflict for years, with journalists reporting directly from both Gaza and the West Bank.

According to an inquiry conducted by Al Jazeera's Sanad verification team, it appears that Israel tampered with the available evidence so as to construct a narrative suggesting that one of the recorded flashes from various sources was a rocket misfire. After a thorough examination of all available videos, Sanad determined that the flash Israel linked to a misfire actually aligned with the functioning of Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system. It intercepted a missile launched from the Gaza Strip, effectively neutralizing it mid-flight.

Other independent sources have also conducted investigations into who was responsible for the bombing, and they contradict what Western mainstream media claim that it was a misfire leading to the hospital's destruction. A detailed thread by Forensic Architecture on X with in-depth 3D animations shows how the blast site shows evidence of the missile coming from the “northeast,” which suggests the missile was launched from an Israeli missile base.

Another account named earshot.ngo conducted a Doppler Effect analysis to determine the origin of the missile, and the results support the conclusion by Forensic Architecture, which stated on X, “This increasing pitch suggests the missile is continuously accelerating towards the camera until impact. The camera’s north-western location suggests an eastern missile trajectory, further decreasing the probability that the missile approached the hospital from south-west.”

The “evidence” being regurgitated by Western news pundits revolves around the CCTV footage of a missile being intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome, but they claim it is the misfired rocket from Islamic Jihad hitting the hospital, which was debunked by Al Jazeera and the various independent sources. Israel later released a recording of a supposed phone call between Palestinian resistance fighters claiming responsibility for the strike, which immediately raised suspicions of being inauthentic.

Banning Opposing Voices

Al Jazeera did not even claim that Israel was responsible; just that there was a lack of definitive evidence to determine responsibility for the explosion which targeted al-Ahli hospital. This crossed the line for Israel, who did not take much time to pass the required amendments to ban Al Jazeera from Israeli airwaves. 

The act has been promoted by Israeli communications minister Shlomo Karhi, the proposed regulations would authorize officials to "suspend media broadcasts and seize broadcast equipment if an outlet's content is deemed detrimental to national security, public order, or perceived as a source of 'enemy propaganda.” The proposal would allow Israel to detain anyone associated with promoting information which could be determined to be detrimental to national security. 

All signs point to this proposal being accepted and put into practice. This act by the Israeli government would be devastating for those on the ground in Gaza and the West Bank from providing up to date information regarding the conflict, and of course would be many other media outlets on notice to be careful what you report unless you want to be banned, and possibly jailed if the bill is expanded upon in the future.

Free Speech Under Attack Worldwide over Israel-Palestine

Since the violence has escalated the past few weeks, so have the amount of protests and marches occurring worldwide in support of the Palestinian cause. In London, a multitude of pro-Palestinian demonstrators congregated near Oxford, waving Palestinian flags and placards as they called for an end to Israeli airstrikes and the blockade in the Gaza Strip. The London Metropolitan Police, with over 1,000 officers deployed, had forewarned that "anyone with a flag in support of Hamas or any other proscribed terrorist organization will be arrested." They indeed did make good on their word and made 15 arrests at the rallies. 

India is also cracking down on any actions being seen as pro-Palestine, arresting four college age students for stepping on stickers of the Israeli flag they had placed on the ground. The act occurred outside a Mumbai McDonalds, as many are criticizing the restaurant for giving aid to the IDF. A McDonalds in Jordan was even vandalized by supporters of Palestine as more became aware of the corporation giving funds to Israel.

Detaining civilians for expressing criticism of another nation or displaying the Palestinian flag establishes a concerning precedent in the supposed bastion of "free speech," the Western world. It raises the question of when citizens of Russia and China in the United States might face similar measures, even detention or arrest, for exhibiting the symbols of their respective homelands on their vehicles or residences. The designation of the Palestinian flag as a terrorism-associated symbol by Western nations is diminishing the space for dissenting voices.