SDEROT, Israel — Breitbart News witnessed an interesting phenomenon Tuesday, while standing on a ridge overlooking the northern Gaza Strip, together with over a dozen reporters and camera operators from a variety of international media outlets.
The reporters were almost all wearing helmets and flak jackets. The people behind the camera made do with t-shirts and hats.
Theoretically, in a war zone, both reporters and camera operators are exposed to the same risk.
The biggest risk in southern Israel is the risk of being hit by one of the rockets fired at Israeli civilian areas by Hamas and other terror groups, but a flak jacket is not likely to help in that case.
Veteran war correspondent Michal Yon reacted with derision:
Fraudulent “war correspondent” work is by far the norm. I do not trust any war correspondent work that does not come directly from me or from someone I personally know. True war correspondents — especially combat correspondents — are one of the rarest species on earth. Larping… https://t.co/JRqSTBeINK
— Michael Yon: Callsign BIG HONEY 6 (@Michael_Yon) October 24, 2023
While on the ridge, Breitbart News and other reporters did witness several airstrikes and artillery shots by Israeli forces.
Still, none of these airstrikes, which appear to have been targeted against terorists, were a threat to reporters.
Reporters’ use of flak jackets has been criticized, notably in the Ukraine war, when many reporters seemed to use protective gear as a prop to establish their authenticity, rather than as a necessary form of protection.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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