This UK Journalist Confronted An Israeli Official And Gave A Master Class In Accountability Journalism
“Khamenei the Iranian regime have clearly done terrible things, particularly to their own people, but your prime minister is a wanted war criminal. You don’t have the moral high ground here at all.”
UK Channel 4 News correspondent Secunder Kermani confronted the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ spokesman Oren Marmorstein after Marmorstein claimed Israel does not target civilians in its attacks on Iran, giving a masterclass in accountability journalism.
On Saturday Feb. 28, as part of its unprovoked, coordinated attack on Iran with the US, Israel bombed a girls’ elementary school in Iran, killing more than 148 children.
The strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school in the town of Minab in Hormozgan province, also injured dozens of others, Iranian officials said. An official said the school had been "targeted by three missile attacks", according to the BBC.
Images and videos of rescue workers pulling bodies from the rubble and families gathering outside what remained of the building are circulating across social media.
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian called the attack a "barbaric act", while the country’s ambassador to the UN called the attack a war crime.
The strikes were part of what US President Donald Trump called a “major combat operation” by the US and Israel to “obliterate” Iran’s nuclear ambitions and to “enable” a regime change.
Iran's Red Crescent said at least 201 people had been killed, including the children from the school, and 747 injured in the attacks.
The strikes killed Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In retaliation, Iran bombed Israel and US military bases in several Arab countries.
Iran’s retaliatory attacks on Israel killed nine people in Beit Shemesh near Jerusalem.
Another attack hit a residential area in Tel Aviv, killing Filipina caregiver Mary Ann Velasquez de Vera while she was helping her elderly ward reach a shelter.
During a press briefing at the site of the attack, Marmorstein accused Iran of targeting civilians and residential areas, claiming it is the “complete opposite of what Israel is doing.”
“We are aiming at military targets,” he said.
Kermani then confronted Marmorstein.
“Khamenei the Iranian regime have clearly done terrible things, particularly to their own people, but your prime minister is a wanted war criminal. You don’t have the moral high ground here at all,” Kermani said.
Marmorstein ignored the question, saying Iran’s attack “is a war crime.”
“What about the 100 or so schoolgirls in Iran that have been killed in a strike?” Kermani said.
Cherry Mohamed
Cherry Mohamed
Sofia Hou
