‘Catastrophic’: Journalists say ethnic cleansing taking place in a news void in northern Gaza
Committee to Protect Journalists
The Committee to Protect Journalists is an independent, nonprofit organization that promotes #pressfreedom worldwide.
Israel has stepped up its systematic attacks on journalists and media infrastructure since the start of its northern Gaza campaign. In October, Israeli strikes killed at least five journalists, and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) began a smear campaign against six Al Jazeera journalists reporting on the north.
There are now almost no professional journalists left in the north to document what several international institutions have described as an ethnic cleansing campaign. Israel has not allowed international media independent access to Gaza in the 13 months since the war began.?
“Israel is accused of adopting a ‘starve or leave’ policy to force Palestinians out of northern Gaza. It seems clear that the systematic attacks on the media and campaign to discredit those few journalists who remain is a deliberate tactic to prevent the world from seeing what Israel is doing there,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna, in New York. “Reporters are crucial in bearing witness during a war, without them, the world won’t be able to write history.”
A news void is one of the direct impacts of this campaign, potentially leaving possible war crimes with no evidence or documentation.
As part of its continuous global advocacy, CPJ called on European Union foreign ministers to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement in light of Israel’s unprecedented attack on press freedom in breach of international law.
Recently, a group of U.N. legal experts determined that Israel’s detention of three Palestinian journalists is discriminatory, arbitrary, and in violation of international law. The expert opinion by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention follows an urgent appeal by CPJ after a wave of arrests in the West Bank began on October 7, 2023, and continues to this day. More than 40 journalists are currently held by Israeli authorities.
Learn more about CPJ’s research, advocacy, and assistance related to the war.
Global press freedom updates
Spotlight
CPJ is highly concerned about recent attacks on Indian investigative journalist and The Washington Post’s global opinion writer Rana Ayyub, and how it affects her ability to report freely in India.?
In October, Ayyub’s personal number was leaked online, and separately, local intelligence personnel followed and repeatedly questioned her throughout a four-day reporting trip in the northeastern state of Manipur.
Ayyub told CPJ she received at least 200 phone and video calls and explicit WhatsApp messages in the night after the leak, including repeated one-time password requests from various online commerce platforms.
During her trip, security personnel questioned Ayyub about who she was meeting and what she was reporting on. They said they followed her for her “safety,” and the measure was ordered by “higher office.”
Ayyub’s reporting has previously led to online trolling and official intimidation. She previously faced criminal investigations, received rape and death threats, and is currently fighting a money laundering case in court.
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Chairman at Media Foundation
1 周I hope to hear less of such horrific tales in the near future. It is time for the peace-loving nations of the world to come together to demand preace, with one solid voice.
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2 周Now the figure of journalist killing Crossed 180 in Gaza....Many lost himself with family
??????? ALL OPINIONS ARE MY OWN, NOT MY EMPLOYER'S. I DO NOT REPRESENT OR SPEAK FOR MY EMPLOYER. Agile Software Development & Product Management Professional.
2 周ISRAEL’S 3-TIER APARTHEID EXPLAINED: Israel controls the lives of around 15M people, but the roughly half that are Jewish dominate the rest. 3RD CLASS: ~5.3M Muslim & Christian Palestinians in the West Bank & Gaza whose lives have been illegally controlled by the Israeli government since 1967, but can’t vote in Israeli elections. They have virtually no rights compared to the Israeli soldiers & settlers who abuse them & steal more of their homes & farms every year, while strangling their local economies by preventing movement of people & products. 2ND CLASS: ~2.2M Muslim & Christian Palestinians in 1948 Israel (aka Arab-Israelis). While they’ve been given Israeli “citizenship”, can vote & hold office, they definitely don’t have EQUAL rights, & are often treated as 2nd class citizens by both Israeli law & society. For example, they have fewer property & leasing rights, they can’t bring non-Israeli spouses to live with them unless they’re Jewish, & they often face employment discrimination, especially if they criticize the government for abusing them or other Palestinians. Yes, they can vote & hold office, but so could Black Americans since 1870, & that didn’t mean they had EQUAL rights. 1ST CLASS: ~7.5M Jewish Israelis
??????? ALL OPINIONS ARE MY OWN, NOT MY EMPLOYER'S. I DO NOT REPRESENT OR SPEAK FOR MY EMPLOYER. Agile Software Development & Product Management Professional.
2 周WOMEN & CHILDREN are 70% of those Israel is killing, according to this UN report. ?? “Around 44% of verified victims were children and 26% women” ?? ”The ages most represented among the dead were 5-9 year olds”. ?? This is NOT a “war”. This is GENOCIDE. Over 20,000 children murdered so far (including those under rubble) & more every day, with OUR tax dollars. Please help make this nightmare stop. Link to full UN report: https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/countries/opt/20241106-Gaza-Update-Report-OPT.pdf And here is Professor Omer Bartov, considered to be one of the world's leading authorities on genocide, explaining why he & so many other Jewish experts say that ISRAEL IS COMMITTING GENOCIDE. Professor Bartov is an Israeli-American Professor of Holocaust & Genocide Studies at Brown University. m.youtube.com/watch?v=XjShVWKN_-M Thank you to our many Jewish brothers & sisters who are trying help stop Israel’s racist apartheid & genocide against indigenous Palestinians ????????? We appreciate & love you, & will always stand with you against antisemitism, along with all forms of racism & bigotry.
Enivironmental justice advocate at earth
2 周Wonderful work you are doing. Keep it up