Independent MPs Shame Lobby Journalists for Not Doing Their Jobs in the Face of Genocide

Handbooks have been delivered to Westminster lobby journalists to highlight the mainstream media’s failure to hold the government to account over Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

The handbook is entitled ‘Journalism During a Genocide’ and contains a list of questions that mainstream journalists “may wish to ask the prime minister in light of an ongoing genocide”. Nearly 100 copies were placed in press lobby pigeon holes for major news outlets on Monday 12 May on behalf of the Independent Alliance of MPs, and have been spotted across the parliamentary estate. 

The Independent Alliance is made up of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North), Shockat Adam (Leicester South), Ayoub Khan (Birmingham Perry Bar), Adnan Hussain (Blackburn) and Iqbal Mohamed (Dewsbury and Batley).

Jeremy Corbyn told Novara Media: “Gaza has been a test for our mainstream media. They have failed. They have failed to stand up for their colleagues being murdered abroad. They have failed to treat all lives with equal worth. And they have failed to hold our government accountable for its complicity in crimes against humanity. That is how you normalise a genocide – and to that end, the media have shamefully succeeded.”

Suggested lines of questioning for prime minister Keir Starmer in the handbook fall under five headings: F-35 parts, RAF bases, genocide, inquiry and other. It includes questions such as: “When will the government publish a full list of military shipments from the UK to Israel since October 2023?” and “Will the government release video footage from RAF spy planes that have flown over Gaza?”

There are serious concerns around the UK’s role in Israeli military operations, with Declassified finding in March that the Royal Air Force had conducted at least 518 surveillance flights around Gaza since December 2023. In September last year, the Labour government only suspended around 30 arms export licences to Israel – out of a potential 350. Just last week, ministers were accused of misleading parliament over arms exports since the partial suspension of licenses. 

Birmingham Perry Bar MP Ayoub Khan said: “The prime minister has repeatedly refused to call the events in Gaza a genocide. He has refused to end arms exports to Israel. I hope this guide will help elements of our media hold the prime minister and government to account for their complicity in this genocide.”

Israel’s war on Gaza has been ongoing for 19 months. At least 61,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 118,000 wounded in Israeli offensives since October 2023. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant are currently wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Israel has escalated its bombing campaigns after breaking the ceasefire on 18 March. 

No food or medicine has been allowed into the besieged enclave for nearly ten weeks. Under Israeli blockade, more than 3,500 children under five years old face imminent death by starvation and approximately 290,000 children are on “the brink of death”, according to Gaza’s health ministry. 

Israel’s security cabinet unanimously approved a plan known as ‘Gideon’s Chariots’ on 4 May, which will involve Israel seizing control of the entire Gaza Strip and forcibly transferring its population. Forcible transfer is a crime against humanity and using starvation as a weapon of war is a war crime under international law. 

The imminent threat of starvation for Gaza’s population and the approval of a plan has not led to any sanctions from the UK government. 

The Independent Alliance’s media handbook states: “Since the government was elected in July 2024, the prime minister has held numerous press conferences to mark a range of policy announcements, from increases in military spending to the development of a theme park. These press conferences are an opportunity for the British media to hold the prime minister to account over the government’s role in Israel’s military assault on Gaza. To that end, we trust this handbook will assist you in establishing truth and accountability.”

Gaza is currently the most dangerous place on earth to be a journalist. Israel’s war has killed 232 journalists – averaging 13 per month – which means it is the deadliest conflict for media workers ever recorded. This is according to a report by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs in April, which found that more journalists have been killed in Gaza than in both world wars, the Vietnam War, the wars in Yugoslavia and the United States war in Afghanistan combined. 

The handbook concludes: “Exposing the truth comes at a cost. In Gaza, journalists have paid with their lives. Here in Britain, journalists may damage personal relationships or hamper their professional ambitions. In an ongoing genocide, these risks are surely worth taking.”