The death of Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif and other Palestinians who also falsely claimed to be journalists is being portrayed in much of the international media as just the latest in a long list of atrocities committed by Israel. It’s not as important a talking point in the arsenal of the Jewish state’s foes as their claims that Israel deliberately starves Palestinian civilians. But the assertion that the Israel Defense Force targets journalists to silence coverage of their wrongdoing is nonetheless an essential part of their argument that a “genocide” is being perpetrated in the Gaza Strip.

That’s why the debate about al-Sharif, whose membership in Hamas’s military forces was amply documented in files captured by the IDF during the war in Gaza, is about more than just the question of whether he was a legitimate target. Nor is it confined to the related yet separate issue of Israel’s decision not to allow the foreign press free access to the war zone.

Falling for the ‘genocide’ big lie