Bambi stands in full solidarity with ALL the journalists of Lebanon, including those who work for Hezbollah-related media.
Even if she strongly disagrees with Hezbollah for having dragged Lebanon into the current regional war, one must remember that Lebanon possesses dynamic, diverse media platforms. Bambi reads or listens to each one of them at all times and especially in critical moments like during war times.
Thanks to all the courageous journalists, Lebanese AND international, for the incredible risks they take to keep us informed during war times.
May the souls of Mr. Ali Choeib (Al Manar), Ms. Fatima Ftouni and her brother Mr. Mohammad Ftouni (Al Mayadeen) rest in peace.
As for the Israeli army’s targeted killing of these journalists, how both sad and unacceptable. Of note, a few days go, Russian journalists lost their lives. In the earlier war of 2024, Lebanese journalists were targeted. Today, those Lebanese journalists lost their lives. When will violence and impunity stop?
While listening to an internet radio streaming from out Beirut, Bambi learned today that Ms. Fatima Ftouni had lost her own uncle and his family. Tragically, she discovered their deaths live during one her news reporting a few days ago. Can you imagine the trauma and the professionalism? Little did she know that today would be her turn and her brother’s turn to lose their lives. May God know how to comfort their parents’ aching hearts.
In solidarity with all journalists of Lebanon and of the world, regardless of whom they are or for whom they work, Bambi will share the Editorial by ‘Orient Today’s staff with its statement on the red line they tried to draw once again by reminding us that “Nothing, absolutely nothing, can justify targeting journalists” (https://tinyurl.com/4na6jzew). Well said, thank you.
“Dear reader,
“It is precisely the heart of our collective mission – to report, understand, and, where necessary, expose these facts – that is being deliberately attacked, amid widespread helplessness,” we wrote in these columns on September 1, 2025. That day, L’Orient-Le Jour decided, along with more than a hundred international media outlets, to join the operation launched by RSF and Avaaz, dressing in black to defend press access to the Gaza Strip and denounce the deaths of 210 journalists killed by Israel in the line of duty.
Nearly six months later, as the Lebanese population is abandoned to the multiple tragic consequences of a war brought on by Hezbollah’s suicidal decisions, the Israeli state appears once again determined to respect no boundaries in its campaign to destroy the (civilian as well as military) infrastructure of the militant party. After already targeting journalists and affiliated media outlets, the Israeli army, on the night of March 17, targeted the home of Mohammad Cherri, director of political programs at al-Manar, killing him and his wife and injuring their children and grandchildren present.
On Thursday, March 19, two Russia Today journalists were wounded by an Israeli strike while reporting on the Qannayat bridge. The Israeli army defended itself by stating it had issued an evacuation order for the area. Still, the circumstances of this strike recall others carried out during the previous war in Lebanon. Between October 2023 and October 2025, 13 journalists or press collaborators were killed in Israeli army strikes. In some cases, including the one that claimed the life of Issam Abdallah in October 2023, several international investigations concluded there was deliberate targeting.
Israel seems intent on both destroying Hezbollah’s civilian environment, including its media network, and preventing any coverage of its actions in southern Lebanon as it prepares a large-scale ground offensive there. In both cases, this runs counter to all the values that L’Orient-Le Jour has defended for over a century.
No matter what one thinks of the editorial line or the role of media outlets linked to or close to Hezbollah, a journalist must never, regardless of their opinions or the circumstances, become a target. The survival of press freedom is at stake. Especially since Israel is not the only actor failing to respect this freedom. It is also no longer acceptable for Hezbollah, whose military activities have been declared illegal by the authorities, to continue to exert direct control over media coverage in several neighborhoods or towns in the country, forcing journalists to obtain “authorizations” to go there, often in the company of a minder.
Even more alarming is the cyberattack suffered by the MTV channel as well as the websites of the information and Foreign Affairs Ministries, claimed by a group called “the Fatimids.” This is part of a climate of intimidation against all those who have openly opposed Hezbollah since the beginning of the conflict. For years, we have denounced the countless death threats, pressures and harassment campaigns orchestrated by its opinion leaders and “electronic armies” against those bold enough to try to reveal its misdeeds. And we do not forget the guilty silence of the media operating within its orbit during the many political assassinations — of journalists and intellectuals alike — for which the militant party has been accused.
At a time when history is repeating itself before our eyes, and tensions have reached such a level that dialogue between Lebanese has become impossible, it seems more essential than ever to try once again to draw a red line. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can justify targeting journalists.
After Gaza, we must do everything we can — before it is too late — to ensure Lebanon does not become another graveyard for information”.
