WEBVTT - The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate 0:00:01.760 --> 0:00:11.880 Colson Media. Hello, everyone, it's me James Today. I am 0:00:11.920 --> 0:00:16.160 back from my trip to Kurdistan and I'm talking today 0:00:16.400 --> 0:00:20.880 with Rania Hayat, a name that I've probably just but shered. 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:25.360 But Ranier is the communications officer for the Palestinian Journalist Syndicate. 0:00:25.440 --> 0:00:28.600 And we're very, very lucky to have Ronnie talking to us. 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:33.479 Welcome Renie, thank you, Jams, thank you for contacting me 0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:36.840 and letting me be letting me with you. 0:00:36.960 --> 0:00:41.000 Yeah, of course you're very welcome. So I think Rania, 0:00:41.479 --> 0:00:44.839 it's it's been a really hard time to consume news. 0:00:45.120 --> 0:00:49.160 For the first week of what's happening. I was in 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:53.040 mostly Syrian and Iraqi Kurtistan, and I wasn't maybe consuming 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:54.920 as much news so I normally do, because I was 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:58.200 trying to write news in today Uh. And then I 0:00:58.200 --> 0:01:01.680 got back there just the the barers you, information and 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:06.080 disinformation has been very hard for people to sort of 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:09.360 wade through, and I wonder I think one of the 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:11.720 things I'd like us to focus on first and foremost 0:01:11.959 --> 0:01:18.720 is the impact of Israel's bombing campaign on journalists, specifically 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:22.480 working in Gaza. I know, like friends of mine are 0:01:22.520 --> 0:01:26.000 journalists in Gaza. We featured on this podcast before the 0:01:26.319 --> 0:01:32.800 people of Parkour, Gaza, and I know that many journalists 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:35.640 have lost their lives covering what's been happening. So can 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:39.600 you explain a little bit about what's been happening and 0:01:39.640 --> 0:01:41.399 maybe bring us up to date on the amount of 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:43.840 every loss is a tragedy, but like the amount of 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:45.760 people who have lost their lives covering this. 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:52.440 Yes, James, well, let's start that journalists and Gaza are 0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:59.680 civilians who are people who travel. They work, They should travel, 0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:02.440 but they work, They do their job. They try to 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:05.480 cover the news with very hard conditions with the daily 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:08.840 life of Gaza. Since the beginning of the war against 0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:13.720 Gas on the seventh of October, you know how the 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:19.960 war started targeting everything in Gaza, not even all the people, 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:24.040 more than the people, you know, the buildings, the children, 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:29.480 even the animals, the plants, you know, just bombing and 0:02:29.520 --> 0:02:34.240 bombing and bombing strikes the whole time. At the beginning, 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:37.880 we try to we have some our contacts with journalists 0:02:37.880 --> 0:02:43.119 in Gaza, we have our General Secretaria member and so 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:47.000 we try to get information from them. At the beginning, Yeah, 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:51.000 it was not easy, but it was okay to get 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:54.520 some information about what's going on. But by the time 0:02:54.639 --> 0:02:57.880 now we reached to a place that when I call them, 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:04.680 they always tell dozens of we don't know. We are disconnected. 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:09.239 I'm homeless. Now, I am not able to get any news. 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:12.120 I can't tell you about my friend or my neighbor 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:13.960 next to me, but I'm not able to tell you 0:03:14.000 --> 0:03:18.960 about further than this. I will just give some statistics. 0:03:19.520 --> 0:03:23.880 Up to now, we have eighteen killed journalists who have 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:29.200 been either killed while try covering, others were killed in 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:34.720 their homes, being through air strikes with their families and 0:03:34.800 --> 0:03:40.360 so on. We have also many many journalists who have 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:43.640 dozens of them have been injured. I'm really sorry. I 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:48.280 was I wanted to have some you know, I curate statistics, 0:03:48.280 --> 0:03:51.320 but I can't give you until now. We are now 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:56.240 trying trying to develop like a tool to get some statistics, 0:03:56.240 --> 0:04:00.920 but until now it's not working well. And we have 0:04:01.680 --> 0:04:05.600 many journalists who lost their homes, homes because it was 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:13.760 bomb bombed or yeah, airstract others they were in this place, yeah, 0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:18.040 and many of them moves from their homes either because 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:21.120 their homes was bombed or other because they were threatened 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:23.839 to stay at their home safely, so they go to 0:04:23.920 --> 0:04:29.960 other like schools, hospitals and so on. The most tragic 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:33.960 is the journalists who are losing their families. When you 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:37.040 call a journalist to ask him about any thing, they 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:39.599 told you Okay, I lost my son, I lost my wife, 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:42.120 I lost all my family, I lost my mother. Now 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:48.000 they are they are completely broken. You can't talk to them. 0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:51.440 They are you know, it's really very tragic situation. 0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:56.760 Yeah, it's it's I mean, it's literally unimaginable, like, yeah, 0:04:56.760 --> 0:05:01.039 I think I've attended wars, I've lost friends, but nothing. 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:04.360 I can't imagine what it's like on this scale. And 0:05:04.680 --> 0:05:08.599 it's heartbreaking to even think about it. And I think 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:13.800 some of what you said obviously, like part of the 0:05:13.839 --> 0:05:17.120 situation this creates is that it's very hard to do 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:19.919 reporting on the ground. It's always been hard to do 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:25.000 reporting on the ground at Gaza. I have made plans 0:05:25.040 --> 0:05:28.159 to go to Gaza, which probably won't work out now, 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:31.800 but it's hard foreign press, and of course there are 0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:34.600 many very capable journalists within Ghas that we don't need 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:38.560 foreign press to go then necessarily. But can you explain 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:43.000 a little bit of how when this war started, it 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:47.839 didn't just like affect these people in terms of killing them, 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:51.760 killing their families, displacing them, detroying their homes. But also 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:54.360 like every day this war goes on, it gets harder 0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:56.560 for us to see I think the impact of this 0:05:56.680 --> 0:05:59.800 war on civilians living in Gaza, right because of the 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:01.159 image to infrastructure. 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:06.560 Is that fair to say, yes, this is what's going on, 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:12.400 and yes, reporting is getting more and more complicated because 0:06:12.440 --> 0:06:15.279 as also you know, there is no electricity. 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:20.880 Communication is very very difficult when sometimes through phone call 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:23.800 I call them just to get something, they tell me, okay, 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:26.360 wait until I get some internet and I will get. 0:06:26.240 --> 0:06:26.640 Back to you. 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:30.400 I wait for hours and hours, sometimes for the second 0:06:30.480 --> 0:06:33.599 day to get a little information. So you can imagine 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:36.680 how they can even contact with each other. 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:41.839 Yeah, and yeah, that makes it very hard. I think 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:44.680 often like we might have more info. This is not 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:48.479 uncommon actually, like you have more information sitting somewhere with 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:51.000 a broad bank connection and access to Twitter than you 0:06:51.080 --> 0:06:53.400 do on the ground, right, Like they may not know 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:54.600 everything that's happening. 0:06:56.160 --> 0:07:01.120 Yes, I don't know if I can talk about this, 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:05.799 but you know about the restrictions that on all social 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:10.880 media applications, the restrictions on the Palestinian contract content on 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:17.120 the social media. We're facing a big massive wave against 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:22.640 our content, was against our news through Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, 0:07:22.760 --> 0:07:28.240 all those applications. So we are not able even to 0:07:28.320 --> 0:07:31.680 reach many people are banned, many people are hanged, and 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:35.120 we are just hearing about the banning of many accounts 0:07:35.120 --> 0:07:41.800 of Palestinians. The very limited reach the very limited, and 0:07:41.840 --> 0:07:44.560 there are sometimes many times they are blocked or yeah, 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:48.440 blocked or from posting and so on. So even also 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:51.160 this is another problem that we are facing to reach out. 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:55.880 Yeah, I think this is in a sense obviously, like 0:07:56.680 --> 0:08:00.400 it's in terms of specifically getting information about because I 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:03.640 think that is important. I think if people could understand 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:08.920 what it's like to see someone lose their baby, and 0:08:08.960 --> 0:08:12.400 then I think very few people would be able to 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:15.840 in good conscious support that. And the fact that this 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:19.720 has come at a time when I think generally, certainly 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:23.680 for the US, reporting on things outside the US is 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:28.120 an all time low, like it's atrocious, and so people 0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:31.520 lack the context to understand, not through any fault of 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:33.800 their own right, but they've just been fed terrible you know, 0:08:33.880 --> 0:08:37.120 opinion pieces for the last few years. They lack the 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:40.280 context to understand why what's happening is happening. And I 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:47.839 think obviously Elon Muskusport, Twitter and and just it's accessible. 0:08:47.960 --> 0:08:50.640 It's terrible, it's full of false information. And as you say, 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:55.960 often videos that I have friends who are photographers in Gaza, 0:08:56.360 --> 0:08:59.440 a friends who are just people in Gaza, and videos 0:08:59.480 --> 0:09:01.559 that they post be taken down. It's sometimes they're to 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:04.920 say it's too graphic, it's too violent, but like also 0:09:05.520 --> 0:09:10.280 that's their everyday life. Now that's been happening for two weeks. This, Yeah, 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:13.720 graphic violence is sadly what's visited upon them every day. 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:21.440 Yeah, yes, believe me, what's going on in Gaza is 0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:24.439 very You can't image, you can't hold it when you 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:28.720 when you watch it. Even the TV channels they try 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:34.760 to make to minimize how dangerous and how violent are 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:38.920 the scenes that we see. At the same time, I 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:42.240 had a discussion this morning, I don't want people to 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:45.480 cry for us, it's not I don't want people to 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:49.280 cry for the babies killed, and so with very hard 0:09:49.480 --> 0:09:55.160 pictures and videos, I just want the humanity without seeing 0:09:55.160 --> 0:09:57.240 the video just here that there is a charge it's 0:09:57.320 --> 0:10:01.840 loading child children. Thousands of children are losing their child's 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:05.360 life or nothing. Are losing their hands, their legs, they 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:12.360 are now handicapped. They don't know why. You know, we 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:15.120 don't need to see the video, just know that this 0:10:15.280 --> 0:10:18.040 is going on. We don't want to make a tragedy. 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:21.520 We don't want to to people to cry with us 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:25.920 when we cry. Yes, we want, okay, some solidarity, but 0:10:26.000 --> 0:10:30.000 it's not something to have the emotions and then then 0:10:30.040 --> 0:10:33.360 we sleep and then we wake up. That's what Or no, no, 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:36.880 there is something going on. We don't need the sympath 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:39.640 you know, we need some actions, we need steps, we 0:10:39.679 --> 0:10:40.720 need humanity now. 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:44.439 Yeah. So I think that's an excellent, really really excellent point. 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:46.439 Like it's not a film or like something you can 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:49.160 consume and then step away from. So what sort of 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:53.240 solidarity actions can people take to support people in gather, 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:56.640 to support journalists there, to support the greater cause of 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:02.400 not having this issue where every few years thousands of 0:11:02.400 --> 0:11:04.040 Palestinian civilians get killed. 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:07.360 Yes, well, to be honest, we want when we want 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:10.760 to feel better, we turn on the television to see 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:15.040 the demonstrations. When we see the demonstrations London, blocks, cell 0:11:16.120 --> 0:11:21.679 the United States and different cities Arab world everywhere. When 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:24.560 we see these demonstrations, we feel that somebody knows there 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:28.040 is like a kind of movement. This helps us, and 0:11:28.360 --> 0:11:32.240 we need further steps after the demonstration. We need lobbying. 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:36.280 We need the people who elect their governments who support 0:11:36.520 --> 0:11:40.040 those massacs and to say no, we give you leg 0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:44.960 legitimacy to be human. Stop this inhumanity. We need the 0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:49.000 people to lobby on their governments that this should not 0:11:49.080 --> 0:11:53.400 be supported. This is this is the real action that 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:56.840 we need. Lobbying, lobbying, lobbying by the people, by the 0:11:56.880 --> 0:11:57.760 power of people. 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:00.720 Yeah, I think it's one of those things, like some 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:03.600 things will never change in America, at least not by voting, 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:06.640 but like some things, yeah, if enough people and I 0:12:06.679 --> 0:12:09.920 think more people, Like I remember when I moved to 0:12:09.960 --> 0:12:12.920 America fifteen years ago, when I was young as twenty one, 0:12:13.160 --> 0:12:16.040 and I came into America and I had a free Palestine, 0:12:16.760 --> 0:12:19.800 like a badge on my jacket like to sew things 0:12:19.840 --> 0:12:23.360 on my jacket, you know, and they sent me straight 0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:26.160 to the secondary you know, like they're like where they 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:27.560 pat you down and take off your clothes and go 0:12:27.600 --> 0:12:29.720 through your bags and stuch, and like it just wasn't 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:32.600 as big of a concern I think more people in 0:12:32.640 --> 0:12:35.319 the fifteen years since then have become aware of the 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:39.440 tragedy and the loss of life. And certainly now I've 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:43.800 seen more people wake up to what's happening and like 0:12:43.880 --> 0:12:46.880 protest or you know, get out and do things in 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:49.120 a way that they wouldn't have done ten years ago. 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:53.959 And I think that's really it's good, Like hopefully that 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:56.320 demand for people to be allowed to live with dignity 0:12:56.360 --> 0:12:57.520 and safety continues. 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:01.440 Yes, I mean, I just always want to ask anybody 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:03.560 you'd like to say, are you going? Are you happy 0:13:03.600 --> 0:13:05.600 to pay your tax for killing others? 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:07.000 Is it Jesus? 0:13:07.120 --> 0:13:12.120 Yeah, this is the very initial, very first question. Are 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:14.240 you happy with this? Do you pay your tax for 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:18.040 this or for anything that you like to have your 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:22.760 tax to be paid for? Yeah, this is what we want. 0:13:23.559 --> 0:13:28.400 We are facing killing, we are facing assassination and bombarding 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:31.600 and so on, and we need all What we need 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:33.240 is humanity, nothing else. 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:50.480 I was thinking this morning of like, how very obviously 0:13:50.559 --> 0:13:54.000 right when when Russia bombed Ukrainian cities, most people said 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:56.559 we should help the Ukrainians, send them moms, send them 0:13:56.880 --> 0:13:59.120 medical supplies, and some of them went and volunteered to 0:13:59.120 --> 0:14:04.000 fight the Ukrainians when and I understand that like this 0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:08.080 obviously this this conflict began in very different circumstances other 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:11.120 than the Russia Ukraine conflict, but nonetheless, like little children 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:14.440 are being killed and continue to be killed, and the 0:14:14.520 --> 0:14:18.080 response wasn't the same. And I think some of that 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:22.320 comes from like and not particularly hard to see orientalism 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:25.520 in the US and the US media. Also some of 0:14:25.560 --> 0:14:28.800 it comes from the complete absence of Palestinian voices in 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:33.120 certainly in like the English language press in America. And 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:36.440 I wonder, like I know that there are certain organizations 0:14:36.480 --> 0:14:40.440 which have specifically worked to make it harder for Palestinian journalists, 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:44.600 like my friend Hassam Salem. He's an excellent photographer. You 0:14:44.600 --> 0:14:46.800 can find him on all the places where you find 0:14:46.840 --> 0:14:49.680 people on the internet. But we worked on stories together, 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:53.160 and I know he's now had he's lost contract with 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:57.080 major outlets because of this sort of campaign of accusing 0:14:57.120 --> 0:14:59.640 him of bias. I think it's hard not to be 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:03.320 biased when you see little children die. But I wonder 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:05.760 if you could talk about that, like how Palestinian voices 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:08.440 are excluded or missing from what even now right the 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:12.280 Atlantic since two weeks of bombing now and I was 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:14.760 looking this morning and they've managed to find two Palestinian 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:19.480 voices to share. Like, you know, it's maybe not. I'll 0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:22.040 have to check that after we've done. But I was 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:25.720 flicking through these big sort of opinion piece type outlets 0:15:25.840 --> 0:15:30.160 and it's very clear that like even now, people haven't 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:34.160 like editors specifically, or the greater press has not stopped 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:37.360 excluding Palestinian voices. So maybe we could talk about like 0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:39.600 how that happens, what allows that to happen, and what 0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:42.960 people can do to help lift up those voices. 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:50.960 Well, yes, Perastilian voices are being banned all over by 0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:55.720 different movements. There are many times fired from their works 0:15:55.760 --> 0:16:03.600 and big news outlets and the media outlets for different 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:06.800 political reasons. And if you want to go and through 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:09.800 the stories, you find that some people are just trying 0:16:09.880 --> 0:16:15.000 to make to make problems for those people to let 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:19.920 them leave their work and stop writing or telling the 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:23.640 news or analyzing or anything about the Peristinian cause and 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:27.160 what's going on. We're facing this globally, and we have 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:32.520 many cases recorded and undocumented in the pgs, and we 0:16:33.400 --> 0:16:38.320 can give you many examples about them. But I have 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:41.480 to tell about something that we're a member of the 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:45.920 International Federation of Journalists. And we have also even our 0:16:46.040 --> 0:16:50.680 president of Pilian Peristinian Journalist Syndicate. He's a vice president 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:54.000 of the International Federation of Journalist. He has been elected 0:16:54.440 --> 0:16:59.840 last year in the last congress. We have sister unions. 0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:02.840 One of them one of the best friends of us 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:07.600 are the National Writers Union, the American National Writers Union, 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:12.440 which is a very big supporter to us. They even 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:19.359 very got better. The general secretary even he visited us 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:22.160 in Palestine a few months ago, and he's a very 0:17:22.200 --> 0:17:26.720 supporter of what's going on, of all our statements, of 0:17:26.760 --> 0:17:31.679 our news at the beginning of the world they produced 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:38.960 like a statement about biosity and misleading news and so on, 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:44.919 how to avoid them supporting the Palestinians, supporting our life, 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:47.520 our right to life, and so on. So we we 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:52.400 highly appreciate this movement. Of course, he's not the only one. 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:56.880 Many many syndicates, many unions all over the world sent 0:17:57.040 --> 0:18:01.840 us solidarity letters. Some of them supported us even with 0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:07.320 some in kind contribution, with some funds in addition to solidarity, 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:11.520 in addition to demonstrations and so on, which really gave 0:18:11.640 --> 0:18:14.760 us a lot of power of hope. So we can 0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:16.480 continue and we are not alone. 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:21.199 Yeah, I think that's really powerful. Yeah. Well, I mean 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:24.119 it's not enough, but it's something that unions. I think 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:26.240 people also, if they're members of the union, can encourage 0:18:26.280 --> 0:18:29.520 their union to do that, right, just to make a statement, Yeah, 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:35.560 just to show some solidarity. I wonder like what you 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:37.720 talked about in kind donations, and you talked about the 0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:41.760 support you're getting from unions. I know one unions which 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:45.160 i'm a member, that's your Workers of the World FJAU 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:48.800 just did a fundraiser or still doing a fundraiser for 0:18:49.960 --> 0:18:53.679 flag vests and bullet profess for journalists. What kind of 0:18:53.720 --> 0:18:57.320 support can people give, like in a concrete sense, beyond 0:18:57.359 --> 0:18:59.920 getting in the streets and protesting and writing letters and 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:03.400 emails and phone calls. It's the stuff that they can 0:19:03.440 --> 0:19:05.159 do with their money, if they have some money. 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:10.440 Well, it's not a kind of money, it's a kind 0:19:10.520 --> 0:19:14.680 of I will tell you now, the situation in Gaza, 0:19:14.880 --> 0:19:18.200 we can't or what we do we need is a ceasfire, 0:19:19.440 --> 0:19:22.879 to be honest, they even don't have fresh water they 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:27.399 drink by the way, and they say try to minimize that. 0:19:27.440 --> 0:19:29.960 The water they drink, and they know that the water 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:32.880 they drink is not very clean, but just to survive. 0:19:33.600 --> 0:19:36.040 So you can start with this very basic need of 0:19:36.119 --> 0:19:40.840 life and then you go further. As I already told 0:19:40.880 --> 0:19:44.680 you that the safety vests are very important, but when 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:48.639 you are under strikes, this will never help you. But 0:19:48.760 --> 0:19:51.600 if I want to talk about the daily life, about 0:19:51.720 --> 0:19:55.720 how it's going and the West Bank and Gaza, our journalists, 0:19:56.440 --> 0:20:02.840 we all work under the same conditions of aggress the events, 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:07.880 covering aggressive events and so on. So we try as 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:11.119 pg US to to contact all the media outlets and 0:20:11.160 --> 0:20:17.080 Palestine to offer or provide safety kits for all journals 0:20:17.080 --> 0:20:22.280 to work in the field. But for example our freelancers, 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:29.360 they work on their on responsibility and a very dangerous situation. 0:20:30.320 --> 0:20:34.520 We try to to to tell how dangerous that what 0:20:34.640 --> 0:20:36.600 they do when you go to cover with you don't 0:20:36.640 --> 0:20:42.680 have very full safety kits or it's it's very dangerous 0:20:42.760 --> 0:20:45.320 for them, but they are not able to cover it 0:20:45.440 --> 0:20:48.440 and they want to they need to work, they need 0:20:48.480 --> 0:20:50.200 to do their job, so they do it in a 0:20:50.320 --> 0:20:55.880 very strained, sory, dangerous conditions. So one of the things 0:20:55.880 --> 0:21:01.160 that we can support unless yes, safety kets, which are 0:21:01.280 --> 0:21:10.000 very important. Medical kids also are very important. What what 0:21:10.080 --> 0:21:17.240 else we try we try to to do. Also, we 0:21:17.320 --> 0:21:21.200 try to raise the awareness to make some materials for 0:21:21.240 --> 0:21:26.080 the journals about safety. Safety is very important for us. 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:29.920 We try to teach them more about how to take 0:21:29.960 --> 0:21:32.399 care of themselves, how to report and so on, about 0:21:32.440 --> 0:21:37.719 their security and so on. This is mainly what I 0:21:37.760 --> 0:21:41.760 can talk about for for the needs or the inkind contribution. 0:21:41.880 --> 0:21:44.200 As I told you, in the current situation, for example, 0:21:44.240 --> 0:21:49.359 we try to support through some donations, through support to 0:21:49.400 --> 0:21:53.800 support the journalists with better charging. Better is because of 0:21:53.840 --> 0:21:56.840 the lack of electricity and power sources in Gaza, so 0:21:57.040 --> 0:22:00.719 just to give them connected currently they are very useful 0:22:00.760 --> 0:22:02.919 for them and it helps. 0:22:02.960 --> 0:22:03.160 Now. 0:22:03.880 --> 0:22:07.040 Yeah, yeah, I can see. It's probably best that you 0:22:07.040 --> 0:22:09.000 guys just have money and then you can be flexible 0:22:09.040 --> 0:22:11.760 in getting what people need. I think that's generally the 0:22:11.760 --> 0:22:14.760 best advice. It's when there's a crisis, is to send 0:22:14.800 --> 0:22:16.800 the people nearest to it money and then they can 0:22:16.800 --> 0:22:20.040 decide what they need. I certainly I found that. I 0:22:20.160 --> 0:22:23.120 found that in a lot of places I worked. Yes, 0:22:23.720 --> 0:22:26.320 so you talked about the power situation. I think that's 0:22:26.359 --> 0:22:30.399 sort of it has gone relatively unreported. I mean, it'll 0:22:30.440 --> 0:22:32.640 still say, like the power and water have been cut off, 0:22:32.800 --> 0:22:36.840 but that creates a lot of other dangerous situations, right 0:22:36.880 --> 0:22:39.840 Like obviously some people rely on that power if they're infirm, 0:22:39.920 --> 0:22:42.159 if they have medical devices, that kind of thing. But 0:22:42.240 --> 0:22:45.760 also like where there are places to charge, that results 0:22:45.800 --> 0:22:48.040 in a very high concentration of people. Right Like my 0:22:48.600 --> 0:22:51.199 friend was telling me that their parents were in a 0:22:51.240 --> 0:22:54.959 hospital to charge their their devices. Right They wanted to 0:22:55.160 --> 0:22:57.960 call their child and say we're safe, we're alive, but 0:22:58.000 --> 0:22:59.359 their phone had run out of batteries, so they had 0:22:59.400 --> 0:23:01.960 to go to the hospit. Yeah, can you explain a 0:23:02.000 --> 0:23:04.120 little bit of some of the things that like that 0:23:04.119 --> 0:23:07.240 that has resulted in the loss of power for people. 0:23:08.160 --> 0:23:12.479 Yes, of course. For example, first of all, let me 0:23:12.520 --> 0:23:16.680 tell you that we already asked quested all our journalists 0:23:16.680 --> 0:23:21.240 in Gaza to be in the hospitals for their safety. 0:23:21.240 --> 0:23:23.960 We try, we expect that it would be a pleas 0:23:24.000 --> 0:23:26.520 safe place, but there is no safe plessing as now 0:23:26.720 --> 0:23:32.400 as you already know about the hospitals that have been targeted. 0:23:33.000 --> 0:23:36.280 But we already asked them to be in the hospitals. 0:23:36.400 --> 0:23:39.439 We try to make some press zones and the hospitals 0:23:39.560 --> 0:23:42.480 in some places whereas for press, for journalists to be 0:23:42.560 --> 0:23:48.560 there so they can get some electricity power and so 0:23:48.640 --> 0:23:52.080 they can ought to be together, try to exchange information 0:23:52.760 --> 0:23:57.760 and work together, so it will be better for them 0:23:57.800 --> 0:24:02.600 to work and safer between brackets always for them to work, 0:24:05.119 --> 0:24:07.320 to be honest, Yes, I don't know. If you see 0:24:07.320 --> 0:24:11.520 the news now, it's we had the sun has set, 0:24:11.920 --> 0:24:15.119 so it's completely dark, and because you just gonna have 0:24:15.160 --> 0:24:19.919 some light and spots which are the hospitals, and you 0:24:20.040 --> 0:24:25.000 know that even the solar and the sorry, the fuel 0:24:25.040 --> 0:24:32.280 for school for hospitals is about to to to finish 0:24:32.359 --> 0:24:37.040 here and in two days I think maximum. But we 0:24:37.080 --> 0:24:40.600 will see. Maybe we'll have some trucks or they will 0:24:40.640 --> 0:24:43.359 get something inside Gaza for fuel and so on. But 0:24:43.600 --> 0:24:44.560 I'm not sure about this. 0:24:45.200 --> 0:24:48.560 Yeah, I think, yeah, every day it's changing, I guess. 0:24:49.760 --> 0:24:52.000 And I wondered, like talking about getting things into gather, 0:24:52.200 --> 0:24:56.280 getting getting things two people in Gaza, a thing that 0:24:56.480 --> 0:25:00.159 seems to be completely like I don't know, Genue. It 0:25:00.160 --> 0:25:01.920 seems to be people think people could just walk out 0:25:01.960 --> 0:25:06.960 of Gaza and go somewhere else. So I guess, just 0:25:07.000 --> 0:25:10.399 to be extremely clear on that, can you explain the 0:25:10.480 --> 0:25:13.280 situation for people in Gaza with respect to if they 0:25:13.359 --> 0:25:15.919 want their mobility and their ability to leave, because I 0:25:15.920 --> 0:25:19.400 think it's something that again has been like criminally overlooked 0:25:19.400 --> 0:25:21.200 in the United States, discourse. 0:25:22.680 --> 0:25:23.879 Ability to leave Gaza. 0:25:23.880 --> 0:25:26.760 I mean yeah, yeah, like a lack thereof would be 0:25:26.800 --> 0:25:29.640 more accurate, right, like they complete absence of that. 0:25:30.280 --> 0:25:34.600 Well, unfortunately, people on Gaza are blocked. They are all 0:25:35.400 --> 0:25:37.600 and they are not allowed to leave Gaza with any 0:25:37.680 --> 0:25:41.800 kind of borders. Even the people who have international passports 0:25:41.840 --> 0:25:46.400 like American, European or whatever passports, they are not now. 0:25:46.520 --> 0:25:50.399 They are not able to leave Gaza. They have to 0:25:50.440 --> 0:25:53.440 face their faith now. They are just displaced from place 0:25:53.480 --> 0:25:58.280 to another. Some people have been displaced four times and 0:25:58.440 --> 0:26:03.320 for areas different areas, and others were displaced and bombed 0:26:04.080 --> 0:26:08.920