Targeted killings of journalists: CPJ has found that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) directly targeted and killed at least five journalists, and CPJ is investigating at least 10 other deaths that suggest possible IDF targeting. Other organizations such as RSF believe the number of targeted killings may be higher. Documenting and verifying the details necessary to conclude that targeting has occurred is difficult, while access to Gaza is limited and coverage conditions remain poor. The targeted or indiscriminate killing of journalists, whether committed deliberately or recklessly, is a war crime. In one such attack, the IDF killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah in southern Lebanon on October 13 with a tank shell, as documented by extensive independent investigations by human rights organizations and the media and supported by extensive forensic video analysis.
Ban on independent media access to Gaza: While some restrictions on reporting are common in war, the effective blanket ban on entry of journalists into Gaza—both foreign nationals and Israeli and Palestinian journalists—is unprecedented in modern times. Journalists have been able to report from the front lines of almost every major conflict over the past three decades: from Ukraine to Rwanda. By comparison, despite the fact that the Israeli government’s press office has issued media credentials to some 2,800 international journalists to enter Israel since the conflict began, it has allowed only select journalists into the Gaza Strip — all under Israeli military escort and with restrictions on reporting. Consequently, more than 70 news media and civil society organizations recently called on Israel to grant independent access to Gaza.
Arbitrary Detention Record: Since October 7, Israel has arrested at least 49 journalists and media workers – often without charge – in what they and their lawyers say is retaliation for their journalism and commentary. At least 13 are being held in administrative detention, a policy under which a military commander can hold a person without charge, usually for six months, on the grounds that it prevents them from committing a future crime, with the possibility of extending the detention an unlimited number of times . The use of the procedure has been repeatedly denounced as a form of arbitrary detention by the UN.
Disappearances of Journalists: Palestinian journalists Nidal Al-Wahidi and Haitham Abdelwahid have been detained by Israeli authorities since October 7 while reporting on the Hamas attack in southern Israel. Since then, Israeli authorities have refused to release information about their whereabouts, the legal grounds for their arrest, or even confirm that they are still alive.
Allegations of torture and ill-treatment: There are an increasing number of complaints by journalists of torture and ill-treatment while arrested or detained by Israeli authorities. While the lack of access to Gaza hampers the ability of investigative organizations to independently corroborate these accounts, they are consistent with evidence of systemic mistreatment of prisoners in Israeli custody documented by civil society organizations and the United Nations.
Censorship and terrifying restrictions on media freedom: More generally, legal barriers and significant impairments to independent media coverage in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories have been extended since 7 October. In Israel, press freedom has been limited by an increasing number of banned articles, anti-press rhetoric by government officials, attempts to control news agencies, and attacks or threats against Israeli journalists. In April 2024, Israel also passed a law authorizing the government to temporarily ban international news agencies from broadcasting in Israel if they are deemed a threat to national security, resulting in the closure of Al Jazeera inside Israel. In May 2024, Israel temporarily seized equipment from the Associated Press to provide live video feeds to Al Jazeera. There are also ongoing internet outages preventing news and testimonies from Gaza from reaching the outside world, widespread allegations of harassment and intimidation, and reports that more than 50 media offices have been destroyed in Gaza.
Failure to investigate or assign responsibilities: Despite repeated calls from civil society organizations, none of these attacks, killings or other reports of abuse of journalists have been transparently or thoroughly investigated by the IDF. The IDF has a long-standing pattern of impunity that predates the current conflict: in May 2023, CPJ documented at least 20 journalists killed by the IDF in the past 22 years, including American-Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, and no one has been charged or summoned to account for their deaths.
Journalists play an essential role in documenting and reporting war crimes and other human rights violations. The cumulative effect of these abuses is to create the conditions for an information vacuum, propaganda and disinformation. While Israel claims its actions are self-defense, history shows that censorship and denial of the right to information is a false path to peace and security.
Therefore, we are writing to you today to call for the suspension of the Israel/EU Association Agreement on the grounds that it has violated international human rights and criminal law and for the adoption of targeted sanctions against IDF officials and others responsible.
In addition, European leaders should categorically and publicly demand that Israel meet the following demands for press freedom:
- Lift the ban on international, Israeli and Palestinian journalists from independent access to Gaza.
- Repeal legislation that allows the government to shut down foreign media and refrain from any further legal or regulatory restrictions on media operations.
- To release all Palestinian journalists and those held without charge.
- Stop the indiscriminate and deliberate killing of journalists.
- Provide guarantees for the safety of all journalists, including the possibility of delivering news-gathering equipment and safety equipment to journalists in Gaza and the West Bank.
- Allow all journalists who want to leave Gaza to do so.
- To ensure that all investigations into alleged war crimes, criminal conduct or human rights violations are prompt, thorough, effective, transparent, independent and in accordance with internationally accepted practices. Investigations into abuses against journalists must then be conducted promptly in accordance with these procedures.
- Allow international investigators and human rights organizations, including United Nations (UN) special rapporteurs, investigators of the International Criminal Court and the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel, to be granted unrestricted access to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories to investigate suspected violations of international law by all parties.
Thank you for considering our requests.
They sign:
- Association of European Journalists (AEJ-Bulgaria)
- Association of Journalists of Albania (AJA, Albania)
- Union of Polish Journalists (SDP, Poland)
- Association of Professional Journalists of Albania (APJA, Albania)
- BH Journalists Association (BHJA, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
- Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)
- CFDT-Journalists (France)
- Committee to Protect Journalists
- Community Media Forum Europe
- Croatian Association of Journalists (CJA, Croatia)
- Danish Association of Journalists (DJ, Denmark)
- (The) Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation
- DISK Press Union (DİSK Basın-İş, Turkey)
- Dutch Association of Journalists (NVJ, Netherlands)
- Estonian Association of Journalists
- Ethical Journalism Network (EJN)
- EuroMed rights
- European Center for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
- European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
- Federation of Associations of Journalists of Spain (Federación de Asociaciones de Periodistas de España, FAPE, Spain)
- Free Press Unlimited (FPU)
- General Association of Professional Journalists in Belgium (AGJPB/AVBB, Belgium)
- Human Rights Watch (HRW)
- Hungarian Press Union (HPU, Hungary)
- IFEX
- Union of Independent Journalists of Serbia (NUNS, Serbia)
- Independent Union of Journalists and Media Workers (SSNM, North Macedonia)
- Index to Censorship
- Institute of Maltese Journalists (IGM)
- International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
- International Media Support (IMS)
- International Press Institute (IPI)
- Association of Editors of Athens Daily Newspapers (ESHEA, Greece)
- Journalists Union of Turkey (TGS, Turkey)
- Association of Professional Journalists of Luxembourg (Association luxembourgeoise des journalistes professionnels, ALJP, Luxembourg)
- Media Diversity Institute
- National Federation of the Italian Press (FNSI, Italy)
- National Union of Journalists – General Confederation of Labor (Syndicat National des Journalistes – Confédération Générale du Travail, SNJ-CGT, France)
- National Union of Journalists of Ukraine
- Norwegian Association of Journalists (Norsk Journalistlag, Norway)
- OBC Transeuropa (OBCT)
- Ossigeno.info
- Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)
- Union of Periodical & Electronic Press (ESPIT, Greece)
- Portuguese Association of Journalists (SinJor)
- Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
- Rory Peck Trust
- Union of Journalists of Serbia (Sinos, Serbia)
- Slovenian Association of Journalists (Društvo Novinarjev Slovenije, DNS, Slovenia)
- Union of Journalists of Slovenia (SNS, Slovenia)
- South East European Media Organization (SEEMO)
- Spanish Federation of Unions of Journalists (Federación de Sindicatos de Periodistas, FeSP, Spain)
- Swedish Association of Journalists (Sweden)
- Union of Culture, Art and Media (UGS-Nezavisnost, Serbia)
- Union of Croatian Journalists (TUCJ, Croatia)
- Union of Mass Media of Montenegro (TUMM, Montenegro)
- Union of Turkish Journalists (GCD, Turkey)
- Union of Bulgarian Journalists (SBJ, Bulgaria)
- Association of Journalists in Finland
- Association of Journalists of Andalusia (SPA-FeSP, Spain)
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#Sanctions #Israel #murders #journalists #organizations
