Israeli Representative to Taiwan Maya Yaron on Tuesday proposed news cooperation between Israeli news outlets and Taiwanese media to provide the latest “on-the-ground” coverage detailing the war between Hamas and Israel.
Yaron visited the Central News Agency (CNA) headquarters in Taipei and met with senior CNA officials, her first since taking office in August as representative of the Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei (ISECO).
Yaron said it has been more than two months since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, which according to Agence France-Presse killed 1,139 people, including 766 civilians and 36 children, while another 5,240 were injured.
Photo: CNA
More than 200 hostages were initially taken by Hamas to Gaza, although more than 100 have since been released in exchange for Palestinian women and children held by Israel.
ISECO represents Israelis interests in Taiwan in the absence of official diplomatic ties.
Yaron said that although more footage relating to the Oct. 7 “massacre” continues to surface and Israel has gathered more information about Hamas’ actions, Israeli authorities are finding it difficult to share such evidence with global media due to strict laws preventing them from doing so, including in Taiwan.
She added that people tend to have short memories and the Oct. 7 attack was two months ago, while international media continue to focus on airstrikes and Israeli Defense Force ground operations in Gaza.
Therefore her office has been in talks with two Israeli news media outlets — I24 and the Jerusalem Post — to provide “more accurate and updated information” to Taiwanese media such as CNA that is “more authentic about what is really happening on the ground.”
CNA president Tseng Yen-ching (曾嬿卿) and vice president Jay Chen (陳正杰), who received the ISECO head during the Tuesday meeting, welcomed Yaron’s proposal.
CNA has swapped national news with global counterparts worldwide for a long time, Chen said.
He welcomed Yaron to recommend Israeli media counterparts “so that we can have access to their information and news stories every day.”
Meanwhile, CNA editor-in-chief Chris Wang (王思捷) added that CNA strives to base its news reporting on multiple authoritative sources in an effort to ensure it is accurate and balanced.
In welcoming the Israeli representative, Tseng said she is hopeful that the war will come to an end soon because “there is no winner in war.”
She also expressed condolences over those killed during the war and offered prayers for the release of the remaining hostages as soon as possible.
Tseng said Taiwan and Israel both face threats from their respective neighbors and Taiwanese are trying to learn from the experience of the ongoing war.
Taiwan also understands that real war takes place not only on the battlefield, but also in the media and through news reporting, she added.
Yaron said she agreed that war involves not only military combat, but also an information warfare.
“It’s in the media. It’s legal. It’s a very legal war between humanitarian law and also the spirit and the solidarity of the people. This is something very important that I’m learning now,” she added.
Following the attack by Hamas on Israel on Oct. 7, Israel has responded with continuous airstrikes on Gaza and is engaged in ground operations.
According to a Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor report released on Monday, since the Israel-Hamas war started, 25,612 Palestinians have been killed, including more than 10,000 children.
The nonprofit organization previously said that more than 90 percent of the deaths have been civilians.
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