Fifty Arab and foreign media institutions, associations and trade unions have demanded the UN Secretary-General and the President of the International Federation of Journalists to take a quick and strong stance to protect journalists in Palestine, condemn the killing of media professionals as well as harassing them by Israel, and to implement the provisions of the Geneva Conventions related to the protection of journalists in times of war.
This came in a joint letter, which the signatories said has been issued “based on the public’s right to the media … and the right of media professionals to practise their work freely … and in view of the systematic targeting that media professionals in Palestine are experiencing, which has reached the point of direct killing and the targeted, and harassment that makes their continued work pose a danger to them.
The signatories called on the international community to “immediately investigate the killings and ensure that criminals do not escape punishment”.
They also called on all countries of the world to guarantee the freedom of media professionals and to take the necessary field measures to protect them and to guarantee freedom of media practice
The President of the Federation of African Journalists (FAJ) and one of the signatories to the petition, Sadiq Ibrahim, has “strongly denounced the continued aggressive escalation against journalists in Palestine” and the murders and attacks targeting them mercilessly, saying this violent escalation constitutes a serious threat to freedom of the press and the public’s right to access information.
The Secretary-General of the Palestine International Forum for Media and Communication and one of the signatories to the document, Ahmed Al-Sheikh, said, “We stand with the brave Palestinian journalists who risk their lives in order to present the truth, and we express our full solidarity with them”.
“We call on all concerned parties to stop the violence against journalists and work to end this type of crime.”
According to independent human rights institutions, as many as 25 Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israel since the start of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on 7 October, in addition to 13 workers in the media sector.
Moreover, the homes of more than 35 journalists were destroyed, and more than 20 journalists were injured, in addition to the arrests of 18 male and female journalists in the West Bank.
Since 7 October, the Israeli army has been waging a ruthless war on Gaza, killing more than 8,525 Palestinians, including 3,542 children and 2,187 women, wounding about 21,543.
In the Occupied West Bank, Israel has killed 126 Palestinians and arrested about 2,000 others, according to official Palestinian sources.
Palestinian Journalists’ Union: Western media is “facilitating genocide”
“Even by the low standards” set amid decades of Israeli apartheid, the union said, current coverage has hit “a new low.”
The Palestinian journalists’ union has strongly condemned Western media organizations for perpetuating lies and propaganda about Israel’s siege of Gaza, saying that they have been “facilitating genocide” amid Israel’s “wholesale ethnic cleansing” of Gaza.
The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate (PJS), a member of the International Federation of Journalists, put out the scathing statement this week, saying that Western outlets frequently serve as a mouthpiece for Israeli military propaganda rather than as sources of truth amid Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
“Even by the low standards set by media coverage of previous massacres in Gaza, the media discourse surrounding recent events represents a new low for the principles of journalistic integrity,” PJS said.
“Shorn of any pretence of objectivity or truth, some Western media organisations have parroted Israeli government talking points, failed to challenge or even attempt to verify blatant misinformation and propaganda, and adopted dehumanizing and violent language about the Palestinian people.”
They point out that many Western outlets have failed to adhere to “basic journalistic standards”; as an example, PJS raises the incident in which President Joe Biden and Israeli leaders cast doubt on Palestinian officials’ count of the deaths in Gaza.
RSF files a complaint with ICC
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has filed a complaint for war crimes committed against Palestinian journalists in Gaza – the third such complaint since 2018 – and against an Israeli journalist, killed and wounded in the course of their work.
These reporters were the victims of attacks amounting – at the very least – to war crimes justifying an investigation by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Filed with the office of the ICC prosecutor on 31 October, RSF’s complaint details the cases of nine journalists killed in the course of their work since 7 October and two others who were wounded, also in the course of their work. It also cites the deliberate, total or partial, destruction of the premises of more than 50 media outlets in Gaza.
According to RSF’s tally, 34 journalists have been killed since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, of whom at least 12 were killed in the course of their work – 10 in Gaza, one in Israel and one in Lebanon.
“The scale, seriousness and recurring nature of international crimes targeting journalists, particularly in Gaza, calls for a priority investigation by the ICC prosecutor. We have been calling for this since 2018. The current tragic events demonstrate the extreme urgency of the need for ICC action,” said Christophe Deloire,
RSF secretary-general.
