Seventy-two of the 99 journalists killed worldwide in 2023 were Palestinians reporting on Israel’s war on Gaza, making those 12 months the deadliest for the media in almost a decade, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
Killings of reporters would have dropped globally year-on-year had it not been for the deaths in the ongoing war on Gaza, the CPJ said in its annual report released on Thursday.
“In December 2023, CPJ reported that more journalists were killed in the first three months of the Israel-Gaza war than have ever been killed in a single country over an entire year,” the organisation said.
In total, it documented 77 journalists killed in the war on Gaza last year while doing their jobs: 72 Palestinians, three Lebanese and two Israelis.
The Palestinian victims account for nearly 75 percent of all journalists killed worldwide.
“This war is unprecedented in terms of the threat to journalists,” Jodie Ginsberg, president of the CPJ, told Al Jazeera from New York.
“What’s important to remember about this war is that Gazan journalists are the only journalists able to report on what’s happening inside Gaza. International journalists have not been able to get in, have not been allowed in, except on very, very controlled trips that are overseen by the Israeli army.
“So we are entirely reliant on those [Palestinian] journalists, who are risking their lives to bring us this story,” she added.
On February 7, the New York-based press freedom organisation said the number of journalists killed in the war on Gaza had risen to 85.
The CPJ has previously attacked what it calls the “persecution” of journalists by Israeli forces and is investigating whether a dozen journalists killed in the Gaza conflict were deliberately targeted by Israeli soldiers, which would constitute a war crime.
In the Palestinian territories, even when journalists are not on the job, they face the risk of Israeli bombardment or arrest. Gaza’s Government Media Office said at least 126 Palestinian media workers have been killed since Israel’s war began on October 7. ⠀
“It’s very important that these killings are thoroughly investigated and that those responsible are held accountable,” Ginsberg told Al Jazeera.
She said her organisation was doing the work to document attacks against journalists in Gaza, which could later be used as evidence and presented to bodies such as the International Court of Justice or the International Criminal Court.
Israel are the ones who made being Jewish synonymous with being Israeli. So now if talk against Israel, you’re being antisemitic. If you disagree with their conduct, you’re being antisemitic. All they’ve done is muddy the waters so that criticism of their vile actions somehow means you’re denying the Holocaust. How many times has Netanyahu brought up 7th Oct as justification for the actions they’ve committed against Palestinians? "Why should we stop bombing Gaza? Do you not remember 7th Oct?’
Are you replying to anything I said or is this a comment you would blindly paste as a reply to any comment?
Jews are increasingly being attacked in other countries since October 7th just for being Jewish. Clearly it’s not just netanyahu who equates Israel with Jews. It doesn’t hurt to remind people that there’s a distinction since clearly not everyone gets it. Israel can be bad and Jews can be attacked - one doesn’t exclude the other
I understood their point to be that Netanyahu and his allies encourage the conflation of Jewishness with support for Israel, through their deliberate conflation of opposition to Israel with antisemitism. In so doing, they put Jews everywhere in more danger, but they accept this because it serves their political ends. Of course, this is far from the only source of antisemitism, but Netanyahu is cynically adding flames to the fire.
Absolutely, no arguments there. In my eyes this just makes repeating the distinction that Jew!=Israelite more important to both combat netanyahu’s rhetoric and antisemitic rhetoric.
I really don’t believe the average person is able to make this distinction, and it indeed makes life for ordinary Jews in far-away countries more dangerous
At least in the US, it’s not just Netanyahu that’s an issue. A lot of the mainstream media is making the same conflation.
That’s why you’ll see in articles like this one https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/23/nyregion/columbia-university-campus-protests.html which focus far more on students saying dumb shit at a protest and less on the ongoing genocide.
And you have to take what is being claimed as “antisemitic” with a huge grain of skepticism. I’ve seen claims that statements like “free Palestine” and “from the rivers to the seas” are “antisemitic”.
This is problematic because even if you wanted to address antisemitism, focusing on people protesting a genocide is not the way to go. Instead, let’s focus on the avowed Nazis parading around CPAC. Or maybe the Nazis in favor of Israel’s genocide. Maybe we should wrestle with why antisemities are so often pro Israel.
I think it was because of Israeli actions in Palestine, not just because of their ethnicity.
Zionists are using Jews as human shields.
You can see my post history if you want to content yourself that I don’t just copy-paste responses. I like to tailor my answer depending on how much of an asshole the person I’m replying to is.
Someone else commented what my point was but I’ll make it clear myself. While Netanyahu believes it’s favourable to classify all anything Jewish as being related to Israel, the inverse is what you’re seeing play out.
Attacking Israel means you’re attacking the Jewish faith therefore, attacking members of the Jewish faith means you’re attacking Israel. This isn’t a position I hold, this is the situation Israel has placed Jews around the world in as a result of muddying the waters. Israel is perfectly willing to manipulate the horror of the Holocaust to get allies to support their violence against Palestinians.