Almost a year after killing Lebanese video journalist Issam Abdallah and injuring other journalists near Alma al Chaab, the Israeli army struck yesterday a media guest house in Hasbaya and killed three journalists as they were sleeping. Those killed were Ghassan Najjar, a camera operator for Al-Mayadeen along with technician Mohammed Rida and Al-Manar TV’s camera operator Wissam Qassim.
Journalists are protected under international law during times of conflict, and last year’s attack as well as yesterday’s strike can only be described as war crimes. However, it came to my attention that Lebanon withdrew back in May 2024 its request to the International Criminal Court to investigate Issam Abdalla’s murder by claiming that Lebanon is not a member state in the Rome Statute approved by the court.
However, that wasn’t the case and the real reason behind pulling the complaint is that an investigation by the Criminal Court might expand to include Lebanese as the laws of armed conflict apply to everyone. In other words, and instead of going after Israel for a war crime, the Lebanese authorities took a step back to protect their own corrupt warlords and prevent justice from prevailing, once again.