Latest news with #KrishnanGuru-Murthy
Channel 4
4 days ago
- General
- Channel 4
Should Israel be held accountable for Gaza aid queue deaths?
The aid crisis in Gaza is deepening – this morning, Israeli soldiers opened fire near crowds of Palestinians approaching a new food distribution site in southern Gaza, the Israeli military confirmed. At least 27 people were killed and dozens more wounded, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. This comes just days after a similar incident left 31 dead and nearly 200 injured, an event for which Israel has denied responsibility. As famine looms and disease spreads through the devastated territory, civilians are caught in an increasingly desperate struggle for survival. Aid is scarce, humanitarian convoys are often attacked or held indefinitely at the Gaza border, and the infrastructure needed to deliver essential supplies has collapsed. In this episode of The Fourcast, Krishnan Guru-Murthy is in Jerusalem, speaking to Milena Ansari, a Palestinian lawyer and researcher with Human Rights Watch, and Zvika Klein, editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post. They discuss how the crisis is unfolding, why so little aid is getting through, and who is being held accountable.
The National
31-05-2025
- Politics
- The National
Why the UK media 180 on Gaza is too little, too late
The problem is that there remains an equally deafening sound, one that can't be drowned out, nor easily forgotten: The thunderous silence that the mainstream British press and broadcast ecosystem clung to as Israel systematically slaughtered, besieged, starved and annihilated Gaza. And that was if their coverage wasn't white-washing, diluting and actively deceiving the public about the reality of Israel's 20-month pummelling of two million Palestinians in an open-air prison. A switch has now been collectively flicked: "End the deafening silence", demanded the Independent's editorial, followed by an extensive report a fortnight later by the paper's international correspondent about how exactly we ever got to this point, including, notably, the genocidal intent expressed by Israeli ministers, a context rarely acknowledged in previous coverage. In trying to explain how we got here, the Independent inadvertently showed exactly why we did. READ MORE: Activists read names of 15,000 Gaza children killed by Israel outside Parliament One newspaper this spring outlined the "horror in Gaza", centring the crippling siege Israel imposed and the resulting engineered famine. It was penned by a journalist who repeated IDF claims about a beheaded Israeli baby in October 2023, a claim still live on the same website. The Financial Times and The Economist followed suit: The latter's leader now unambiguously stating the war "must" end. On November 8, 2023, its leader said Israel "must" fight on. Broadcast presenters have rushed to defend their record — eager, perhaps, to prove they offered impartial, thorough coverage and didn't manufacture consent for crimes committed on an industrial scale. When paediatrician Dr Tanya Haj Hassan slammed the BBC for parroting Israeli talking points, the presenter — who had just defended the network's output as fair and balanced — followed up with the usual uncritical amplification of Israeli genocide denial. It's a pattern all too familiar from that very presenter. This is the same BBC that interrupted Palestinian guests listing the names of relatives killed by Israeli bombs — to ask whether they condemn Hamas. The script read complicity and distraction. And the mainstream media seemed to have rehearsed it to perfection. That does not appear to be something the public will forget. Channel 4's Krishnan Guru-Murthy was asked by a social media user why it took so long, in response to his promotion of the network's report on five-year-old Ward in Gaza who survived an Israeli strike but harrowingly witnessed her family burn to death. "You just haven't been watching, clearly," was the retort. Except that thousands had been watching closely. Waiting for the Palestinians to be humanised. Waiting, for example, for Channel 4 presenters to interject when Israeli reservists amplify military propaganda that justifies mass slaughter and collective punishment. Waiting for Guru-Murthy to interrogate Israel's intent and actions, not grill Palestinians on whether 'from the river to the sea' is antisemitic. In turn, the archives were updated, the records carefully adjusted. The shift is shameless, but the gall to defend it even more so. However, they won't be rehabilitated. Not that easily. Whilst independent and alternative media worked tirelessly to document, to platform and capture the depth of Israel's barbarity with a fraction of the resources, the mainstream media, with greater infrastructure, reach and a moral obligation – did the precise opposite. It's not courage to write a column, as one Guardian contributor did, that agonises performatively over the plight of Palestinian children in this "terrible conflict", yet fails across more than 1000 words to name the state mercilessly targeting them. READ MORE: Kneecap correct BBC headline after TRNSMT show cancelled Nor is it brave for the paper's editorial to now highlight the reality of the engineered horror, while its reporters resort to business as usual and include Israeli military justifications in their coverage — trawling through press releases, or recycling old ones when none are ready to hand. All to avoid framing the ongoing Palestinian suffering as a deliberate, systematic decimation, and instead present it as part of a tragic, two-sided military strategy – all of which is most certainly unrelated to the secret meetings The Guardian's editor held with a former Israeli general tasked with cultivating support for Israel. None of that is courageous, principled journalism. Nor is it an awakening or an ethical reckoning that must be applauded. It's cynical hand-wringing — the kind that might win nods in the sophisticated newsroom culture of Fleet Street but will collapse under the weight of history. In the all-encompassing court of public memory, this theatre won't hold up. When British Palestinian reconstructive surgeon Ghassan Abu-Sittah says that in the future genocide museum, there will be a section reserved for the journalists who enabled the horrors, I can't help but have sympathy for the architects and engineers tasked with the herculean challenge of designing a room vast enough to hold them all. Hamza Yusuf is a British-Palestinian writer and journalist whose work focuses on Palestine
Channel 4
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Channel 4
How Israeli embassy staff shooting could impact Gaza war
The shooting of a couple who worked for the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC has sent shockwaves around the world, while in Gaza the UN says thousands of men, women and children are in danger of severe starvation after an 11-week aid blockade. For this episode of the Fourcast, Krishnan Guru-Murthy speaks to The Economist's Israel Correspondent Anshel Pfeffer and Palestinian journalist Nour Odeh. They discuss the shooting of Israeli embassy staff in DC, growing condemnation of Netanyahu by Western leaders and mounting international calls to recognise a Palestinian state.
Channel 4
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Channel 4
Will India's missile strike on Pakistan lead to all out war?
Pakistan has described India's missile attacks that killed more than 30 people 'an act of war', but India says it was retaliation for a terrorist assault in Indian-controlled Kashmir. So is an all-out war inevitable between these two nuclear-armed neighbours. In the past the US has acted as a peace broker, but is the Trump administration willing to involve itself in another foreign conflict? To discuss this, Krishnan Guru-Murthy is joined from Delhi by the Emmy-nominated journalist Barkha Dutt who has reported from the frontline in previous conflicts between India and Pakistan. And also by Ayesha Siddiqa from the Department of War Studies at King's College, London. She writes extensively on the Pakistan military after serving as the country's director of naval research. Produced by Calum Fraser, Holly Snelling, Rob Thomson
Channel 4
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Channel 4
Indhu Rubasingham: Meet the most important person in British theatre
Newly appointed National Theatre Director Indhu Rubasingham becomes the first woman and person of colour to lead the theatre in its 60 year history. She sat down with Krishnan Guru-Murthy to discuss art, diversity and censorship and taking on her 'dream job' in the latest episode of Ways to Change the World. Listen and subscribe You can listen to and subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts here. Or on Spotify, CastBox and other good podcast apps. So join us as we explore the big ideas changing the way we think, act and live – and how much impact we can really have as individuals. A filmed version of each interview is available on our Channel 4 News YouTube channel – hit subscribe to keep updated on when a new episodes.
