Yemen bids farewell to 31 journalists assassinated by Israel
Israel has been targeting journalists across the West Asia region during the last couple of years to silence the voices that expose its crimes.
Yemeni people in funeral procession for journalists killed in Israeli airstrike. Photo: Al Masirah Yemen
A funeral was held in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Tuesday, September 16, for 31 Yemeni journalists, who were assassinated in Israeli airstrikes that targeted the offices of 26 September and Al-Yemen newspapers in the city one week earlier.
Over 20 other journalists, and dozens of civilians were injured in the aggression, which destroyed the headquarters of the two newspapers completely.
Local media outlets described the offensive as “the largest Israeli attack against the press and journalists in Yemen.” The international Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) described it as the “deadliest global attack [on journalists] in 16 years”, and “the second deadliest single attack on the press ever recorded by CPJ”.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s Grand Mufti Shams al-Din Sharaf al-Din denounced the assault as “a desperate attempt to silence the voice of truth and cover up the enemy’s crimes.”
“The blood of these media martyrs will not be wasted; it will fuel the resilience of the Yemeni people and elevate their awareness, making it harder for the enemy to conceal its crimes,” the Grand Mufti asserted in a speech during the funeral.
The blood of Yemeni journalists was mixed with the blood of Gaza’s journalists, say Yemeni newspapers
Al-Yemen and 26 September issued a joint statement, in which they mourned their murdered journalists, and termed the Israeli assault as “evidence of failure, and a desperate attempt to silence the truth and the voices that expose the crimes of the usurping and criminal entity.”
The statement affirmed that the crime against the Yemeni journalists is part of a series of heinous crimes perpetrated by Israel against journalists and media workers, who report on its criminality and brutality including the killing, the siege, the destruction, and the targeting of all aspects of life in Gaza and Palestine.
The statement further asserted that “the Zionist killing machine will never stop the voice of the truth no matter how far it goes in spilling the blood of journalists, who bear the responsibility of reporting the truth and exposing the Zionist crimes.”
The two newspapers further affirmed that “the blood of the assassinated Yemeni journalists were mixed with the blood of their late colleagues in Gaza, who have been deliberately targeted by treacherous Zionist strikes.”
Israel killed 292 journalists across West Asia during the past couple of years
Since October 2023, Israel has killed over 292 journalists, including 247 in the Gaza strip, 10 in Lebanon, 32 in Yemen and three in Iran, in its all-out multi-front war across the West Asia region.
The Israeli occupation has been massacring journalists in the region in full view of the international community, which has not taken any action to stop such appalling crimes.
