Plenty of criticism has been heaped on the Israeli Defense Forces for firing on United Nations and media headquarters during the operation inside the Gaza Strip. During these incidents, UN employees and reporters claimed it was impossible for Hamas to fire rockets from these compounds and intimated the Israelis intentionally targeted the facilities. Here is one such report in Editor and Publisher, America's Oldest Journal Covering the Newspaper Industry:
Bullets also entered another building housing The Associated Press offices, entering a room where two staffers were working but wounding no one. The Foreign Press Association, representing journalists covering Israel and the Palestinian territories, demanded a halt to attacks on press buildings.
The army had collected the locations of media organizations at the outset of fighting to avoid such attacks.
But we have at least one confirmed incident of Hamas's launching rockets from a media headquarters:
Al Arabiya reporter Hannan al-Masri is live on the air in Gaza when she is told that Hamas has just fired rockets from inside the Al Arabiya studio building, news which apparently strikes her as quite humorous.
Watch the video below and turn on the subtitles feature. The first laugh might be dismissed as nervous laughter, but the second one can't. She is clearly amused by the launch.
If the Israeli Air Force responded by striking the building housing Al Arabiya, it would have been completely justified in doing so.
Editor and Publisher was adamant the Israelis are "attacking" media headquarters, yet there is no report of the Al Arabiya incident on the website or a mention of the unprofessional behavior of the Hannan al-Masri. Surely E&P will eventually cover both sides of this story for the sake of balance. Right?
