Mr. Tim Dawson:

They both make interesting and valid points that I would support.

It is worth giving some thought to how this might have happened. This has happened against the fog of war. There is still dust hanging over Gaza and more being created. However, there are things we know about Israeli technical capacity. We know they have phone surveillance equipment that is more sophisticated than most countries have access to, and that they relentlessly use it to track journalists. We know they have the ability to programme killer drones, which during the course of this conflict have massively increased in speed. I cannot remember the figures, but they used to be able to target approximately five per day because it was quite complicated. They can now do hundreds per day. Therefore, it is technology of this kind, it would seem. This is all yet to be judicially tested. I am very keen to see it judicially tested, but it is hard to ignore the coincidence between having technology like Gospel, Lavender and Pegasus and this kind of apparent dial-a-death possibility they have targeting specific properties and houses where journalists live or, indeed, cars driving through barren territory. As well as prosecuting these specific instances, giving thought to how some of these technologies are controlled is also important.

I have for a long time had a concern about the worldwide possibility of surveilling journalists and the way that is used to undermine their work. Paying greater attention to that and adopting safeguards to ensure that is not possible is a small part, as well as prosecuting things through the ICC and ICJ, of trying to prevent this from becoming the new normal of how journalists are treated in conflicts. It is also worth bearing in mind that what state actors have the capacity to do now, non-state actors will quite possibly have the capacity to do in five years’ time.