London: A sold-out crowd of 13,000 filled Wembley Arena on September 18 for the “Together for Palestine” fundraising concert, featuring international actors and artists. Yet the night’s most powerful moment came not through music, but through silence, as journalist Mehdi Hasan delivered a searing address on the killing of Palestinian journalists in Gaza.
Hasan, CEO and editor-in-chief of the new media company Zeteo, accused Western media of failing in its duty. He said audiences had been “lied to, manipulated, misled, gaslit” for nearly two years. While Western outlets demand Israel allow journalists into Gaza, Hasan stressed that local Palestinian reporters were already on the ground, documenting events under fire.
He cited shocking figures: 270 Palestinian journalists killed since the war began, more than in the First and Second World Wars, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Iraq War combined. Hasan emphasized that they were not killed by accident, but targeted because their cameras and microphones threatened to expose atrocities. He named several slain reporters, including Anas al-Sharif, Husam Shabbat, Mariam Abu Daka, Roshi Shiraj, and Bilal Jadullah.
Hasan urged the audience to honor their sacrifice by raising their voices. Leading a chant of “You can’t bomb the truth away,” he declared that every fallen journalist left behind evidence that cannot be erased. He concluded with a defiant promise: “You will not silence Gaza. You will not silence Palestine. You will not silence the truth. And one day, Palestine will be free.”
