LETTER

PMA & partners call on EU to help journalists in Israel-Gaza war

24th January 2024
The Public Media Alliance has joined the Committee to Protect Journalists and 15 other organisations in writing to Josep Borrell, the High Representative for the European Union on Foreign and Security Policy, urging him to call for press freedom and journalists’ rights to be respected during the Israel-Gaza war.
European Commission
Row of EU Flags in front of the European Union Commission building in Brussels. Credit: VanderWolf Images / Shutterstock.com

17 civil society organisations, including the Public Media Alliance, have signed a letter to the the High Representative for the European Union on Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Morrell, urging him to call for press freedom and journalists’ rights to be respected during the Israel-Gaza war.

In the letter, the groups point to the unprecedented numbers of journalist victims, which, according to the CPJ, in the first 10 weeks of the hostilities, is more “than have ever been killed in a single country over an entire year.” The letter notes that “There is growing evidence that, in some cases, the IDF may have deliberately targeted these journalists.”

Read more: 2024 begins as 2023 ended… With journalists under threat

“The European Union describes its relationship with Israel as “one of the most wide-ranging and deepest relationships that the EU enjoys with any third country in the world.” As such, the European Union will be judged on how this relationship can ensure that all parties to the conflict abide by international law, including the protection of journalists who are civilians and must be able to freely and safely report on every aspect of the conflict.”

The letter urges Mr. Borrell to:

  • Publicly call on all parties to the armed conflict to respect the right of journalists to report on the hostilities, ensure journalists’ safety, allow all journalists seeking to evacuate from Gaza to do so, abjure the indiscriminate and deliberate killing of journalists, promptly and thoroughly investigate all attacks on journalists, and hold accountable individuals found to be responsible for them.
  • Demand that Israel and Egypt provide international journalists with independent access to Gaza, and that Israel cease communication blackouts and take whatever steps are necessary to assure the safety of journalists admitted to Gaza as well as those already working there.
  • Demand that Israel allow the passage of personal protective equipment and materials used for newsgathering, such as helmets, flak jackets, phone chargers, eSIM cards, and laptops, to reporters in Gaza and the West Bank.
  • Support swift, transparent, and independent investigations into the killing of all journalists and ending the longstanding pattern of impunity in the killings of journalists by the IDF.
Read the full letter