The last two years have been among the deadliest years in the world for journalists and media professionals, particularly in Palestine

According to the recent CPJ report, Israel ranks as the second worst offender for crimes against journalists that go unpunished. Punishing crimes against journalists would mean punishing the Israel government itself for targeted killings against journalists in Palestine. Journalists are risking their lives each day to disseminate the truth to the world about Israel’s war crimes taking place in Gaza and in occupied territories. Unlike our governments and justice systems, who bow to the Zionists’ demands and continue supplying arms and interfere with justice, in dodging arrest warrants at the ICC to Benjamin Netanuyhu and Israel’s ministers, they offer sympathy and political support to Israel, who is committing a genocide. Western protectionism goes as far as censoring the news from Palestine to block content that puts Israel in an unfavourable light and issues their own version of events, often very far from the truth.

The attacks against the journalists have intensified since last year and are often suppressed by the Western corporate media. The Israeli government and its ministers of propaganda are intentionally launching targeted attacks on journalists who are discovering and reporting about the horrendous war crimes against humanity in Gaza. As we are honouring the murdered and arbitrarily arrested journalists on November 2, the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, the enemies of the free press give speeches on how the free press is the ‘backbone of democracy’. We can only ask ourselves, “what free press?” and what kind of “democracy?” do they mean.

The same western government officials are actively engaging in suppressing and silencing the free press nationally and transnationally, in support of Israel’s propaganda narrative and smearing everyone who comes up with evidence of Israel’s war crimes #. It’s rather disgusting to see how the media e.g. in Germany, is sounding more Zionist and blood thirsty than Israel’s national paper Haaretz. Regardless of the genocide, Germany, the US and UK continue supplying weapons without interference, regardless of the UN experts’ call to issue an immediate arms embargo to Israel and the ICJ’s order under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip. The weapons are flowing freely and are used in targeted killings of journalists in Palestine and Lebanon.

So far, the Forensic-architecture has recorded 25 targeted incidents against journalists in Gaza since October 7, 2023, 23 of them have been confirmed out of 1,923 total number of incidents. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) the death toll is 134, however, due to the difficult circumstances, the actual amount is likely to be higher, many are missing, undiscovered under the rubble or detained without charges in Israel’s prisons. Israel has also recently launched targeted attacks on social media influencers and civilian Journalists who are excluded from the CPJ lists. Truth is under attack and those who are supporting Israel’s war crimes are complicit for silencing and censoring the truth.

“As of October 29, 2024, CPJ’s preliminary investigations showed at least 134 journalists and media workers were among the more than tens of thousands killed in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel, and Lebanon since the war began, making it the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992.”

Killed/murdered and injured journalists since October 7, 2023 (Source: CPJ)

As of October 29, 40 Palestine Journalists remain arbitrarily arrested in Israel’s dungeons, for doing their job as journalists. They are held without charges, and are factually ‘political prisoners’, without the rights granted by international law. This is in line with the Julian Assange case, where the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) recognised him as a political prisoner and warned us about the chilling effect his harsh treatment had on journalists and whistleblowers on a global scale. Exposing government wrongdoing is not a crime, but essential to uphold human rights and make sure that those who break international law are held accountable for the crimes against humanity. Without journalists, the impunity can continue interfered and breeds more injustice in the future. The UN expert committee ruled on the October 29, 2024 Israel’s detention of Palestinian journalists unlawful.

On the October 8, an American journalist, Jeremy Loffredo, was taken into custody on suspicion of “assisting an enemy in war” for his reporting on Iran’s missile attack. His reporting was largely based on already published materials by other sources. Prior to Iran’s missile attack on Israel, Jeremy Loffredo had documented Israeli forces attacking and interfering with access of the aid trucks to Gaza. It is well documented that Israel is targeting journalists who they see as a danger of reporting things that places the Israelis under bad light on an international level.

Western media is complicit in Gaza genocide and can be prosecuted

Today, the Western media is serving under the “Goebbels reborn” directive and if we don’t fight against this trend, the future will remain bleak, both for journalists and the readers who have not sold their values to the Zionist propaganda machine.

The mainstream media is complicit in disseminating disinformation, promoting and justifying genocide in impunity, instead of eradicating it with truth. The media seldom, if at all, report on their Palestinian colleagues’ murders and persecution by the Israelis. In Europe, the mainstream news reads more like text written by a professional PR agency rather than a real journalist reporting actual news. The truth is nowhere to be found, but the propaganda shines through each word. An independent press cannot function properly when the politicians and foreign governments are actively interfering in their reporting. Truth isn’t always what the people want to hear, or favourable to political strategies and aspirations, but only the truth can ensure justice will prevail and, without it, we will never have peace. This is why it is imperative we hold our own media responsible for war crimes in Palestine, because a good journalist reports actual events impartially and truthfully, without taking orders from shareholders and political party editors who twist the story to serve the interest of the government and Israel.

On International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, we call on states, the UN and the ICC to end impunity and stop protecting and supporting the perpetrators. Stand up and eradicate suppression of truth from the governance and institutions, on both the national and international level.

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