Of Gaza, the media and rockets

Israeligirl posted a link to the video below, Al-Arabyia reporter/newsreader Hanan  al-Masri reacts to a missile launched from her own building. This was on 1 January, 2009. If you click on the closed caption button you will see an English translation:



The reporter/journalist/whatever laughs at the thought of the office building being used as a super double secret HAMAS launch site. I googled her name, and found several hits, but this one seemed almost funny/ironic. From the Committee to Protect Journalists:

New York, January 15, 2009--The Israeli government must ensure that media facilities are not targeted in the conflict in Gaza, the Committee to Protects Journalists said today. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) fired at least one missile today directly at a Gaza City building that houses multiple news organizations, injuring at least two journalists and forcing others to evacuate, Reuters reported.

Reuters, Fox News, Al-Arabiya, and more than a dozen other regional and international news organizations and production companies are located in Al-Shuruq Tower. Abu Dhabi TV said in a statement that Bureau Chief Aiman al-Razi and cameraman Muhammad al-Susi were injured in the attack. Both are being treated at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, according to the statement. Reuters reported that the injuries were not life-threatening.

Shrapnel hit the Reuters office, forcing staff to evacuate but not causing injuries, the news agency reported. Live video footage from Reuters and the Ramattan news agency shows smoke rising from the building. Al-Arabiya correspondent Hanan al-Masri, who was on-air when the attack occurred, was forced to abandon the live broadcast midway. (How's that for irony? - mfh) The station aired that footage again in a subsequent broadcast.

I can't find the video of Ms Masri during the on air attack. I wonder if she laughed then too?

Of note in the CPJ report:

A fire in the basement of the building destroyed a power generator and has disrupted communications equipment, according to Russian news channel Russia Today, whose offices are also in Al-Shuruq Tower.

 
Let's see... would that be the same basement from which a  rocket was launched? Surprise!

Note to CPJ - Journalists can protect themselves by vacating a building that is being used by terrorists to launch rockets. It is too much to ask that the journos not allow the building to be used that way... 1) They don't own it... and 2) they have no way of backing up a demand that their building be not used as a military site. But if part of your building has been turned into an armed camp, it is time to get the hell out. Sooner or later, out going mail will be answered.