Sixty international journalistic organizations sent an open letter to the European Union (EU) with a request to suspend the Association Agreement with Israel, due to the killing of journalists and other media workers in the Gaza Strip. At the meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers, which is being held today in Brussels, this letter and the demands of European organizations for the protection of media freedom and the safety of journalists should be considered.
The letter is the response of organizations including EFJ, RSF and the Association of BH Journalists to the unprecedented number of journalists killed and other repeated violations of media freedom committed by the Israeli authorities since the beginning of the war with Hamas. The letter states, among other things: “Murders and other violations of media freedom, “Murders and other violations of media freedom, committed in violation of Israeli human rights and international obligations under international humanitarian law, should trigger the suspension of the Association Agreement between the EU and Israel and further targeted EU sanctions against those responsible.”
“It is time to move from verbal condemnations to action. Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement stipulates that their relations are based on an essential component, which is respect for human rights and democratic principles. The Israeli government is clearly trampling on this article. The EU, which is Israel’s leading trading partner, must draw the necessary conclusions from this and must do everything to ensure that the Netanyahu government stops massacring journalists and respects the right to information and media freedom by opening media access to Gaza. The credibility of the EU is at stake,” said Julie Majerczak, head of the Brussels office of Reporter without Borders.
The letter states that the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has found that at least five journalists have been directly targeted and killed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), while at least ten other deaths are being investigated. Other organizations such as RSF believe the number of targeted killings could be higher.
It was pointed out that journalists have been able to report from the front line in almost every major conflict in the past three decades: from Ukraine to Rwanda. But by comparison, the letter says, despite the Israeli government’s media office issuing media credentials to some 2,800 international journalists to enter Israel since the start of the war, only select journalists have been allowed into the Gaza Strip, while this has been happening under with Israeli military escort and with restrictions on reporting.
In this context, more than 70 news outlets and civil society organizations recently called on Israel to allow independent access to Gaza. In addition to the murders of journalists in Gaza, a record number of arbitrary detentions of media workers were recorded, and there are also allegations of torture and mistreatment of journalists. Huge restrictions on media freedom are also mentioned, as well as the failure to investigate or hold perpetrators of violations accountable. The organizations are calling on EU leaders to publicly call on Israel to meet demands for media freedom, which include providing access to and supporting freedom of reporting, protecting the lives of journalists and ensuring accountability and ending impunity.
Israeli armed forces have killed more than 130 Palestinian journalists and media professionals in Gaza since October 7, 2023. At least 30 of them were killed while doing their job. In the same period, which was the deadliest for journalists in the last few decades, three journalists from Lebanon and one Israeli journalist were killed. The organizations that signed the letter emphasize that the targeted or indiscriminate killing of journalists, whether intentional or accidental, is a war crime.