As the Israeli military shoots its way into the center of Rafah, they have made it abundantly clear that there are certain broad classes of Palestinians that are targets for assassination, and that seems to include anyone who works for Al-Jazeera.
Those of us who have been watching this genocide unfold live on Al-Jazeera's English channel for the past 7+ months are all especially familiar with and probably enamored of two reporters in particular who have been with us day in and day out the whole time. There’s no reason to only write songs of appreciation for the dead.
Hani Mahmoud and Tareq Abu Azzoum
I watch Al-Jazeera, I never miss a day
I hear each word the reporters on the ground in Gaza say
At the top of every hour my mind is cued
For Tareq Abu Azzoum and Hani Mahmoud
To tell us about each building coming down
From journalists who are right there on the ground
Wael Al-Dahdouh’s family was killed in an air strike
While he was looking at the camera and holding his mic
An Israeli official openly said
We want all of those terrorist journalists dead
And now that they've closed off every route
So nobody inside has any way out
So while they still live, I'd like to say
From here in my living room
Thank you for your service, Hani Mahmoud
And Tareq Abu Azzoum
They've banned the network in Israel, jammed their frequencies
Blocking out the media that dares to disagree
With those who say “we don't have any journalists inside
But we don't think what's going on looks like genocide”
Al-Jazeera does, and so the occupiers willed
The journalists reporting there in Gaza must be killed
As the tanks close in, to the city center
As the world wonders when exactly they will enter
Where the network isn't banned, we can hear the blasts
As we await the moment when this might be the last
One that these reporters will probably stream live
Until the second the drone strike arrives
New song: "Hani Mahmoud and Tareq Abu Azzoum"