Israel attacks journalists to hide reality Palestinians face

RSS Feed

Israel attacks journalists to hide reality Palestinians face

November 7th, 2015

Awake Goy

Dragged by the head, punched in the face, kicked in the knees and pepper sprayed directly in the eyes.

These are just a few of the recent abuses of Palestinian journalists by Israeli soldiers that have been captured on video.

In other cases, Israeli snipers have shot journalists with live ammunition or rubber-coated steel bullets even as they wore vests clearly identifying them as media workers.

In the video above, captured by journalist Diya Houshiya on 30 October and published by the human rights group Al-Haq, Israeli occupation forces assault journalists and pepper spray Houshiya as he films.

In previously published video of what appears to be the same incident in the West Bank town of al-Bireh near Ramallah, Israeli soldiers also attack Red Crescent medics who were trying to assist a youth the soldiers had just deliberately run over with a jeep.

Israeli forces committed more than 100 violations against journalists in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip in October, according to the Palestinian Centre for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA).

MADA says Israeli forces violently assault photojournalists, prevent them from covering incidents and even delete their material because “Israel wants to hide the reality and does not want the journalists to deliver their message to the world.”

The group has documented at least 450 violations of journalists since the beginning of the year.

Sniper

Al-Haq asserts that Israel has deliberately targeted Palestinian journalists in recent weeks.

On 2 October, an Israeli sniper shot Ahmad Talat Hassan, a journalist working for several international outlets, in the thigh as he was filming the weekly peaceful demonstration in Kufr Qaddoum in the West Bank.

According to Al-Haq, Hassan was shot at a range of about 150 meters while wearing a helmet, a press vest and carrying his camera.

On 23 October, photojournalist Daoud Nimer Abu al-Kas, 23, was shot with a rubber-coated steel bullet east of Shujaiya in the Gaza Strip.

He was shot as he approached a young protester who was lying on the ground injured.

War crime

Al-Haq says that Israel’s deliberate attacks on journalists may amount to a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

MADA has documented a 154 percent increase in Israeli assaults on journalists over the last three years.

During Israel’s assault on Gaza in the summer of 2014, at least seven journalists were killed on the job.

Last year, Reporters Without Borders listed Israel as the second most lethal country in the world for journalists.

MADA notes that attacks on journalists by Palestinian Authority forces have also increased, but remain a fraction of Israeli violations.

In addition to injuring and killing them, Israel’s attacks on journalists include detention, threats and destruction of equipment.

Silencing media

On 3 November, the Israeli army raided Minbar al-Huriyya, a radio station in Hebron, claiming it was inciting listeners.

Occupation forces ordered the station shut for six months, confiscated most of its equipment and damaged its facilities.

Hisham Sharabati, a field researcher with Al-Haq, told The Electronic Intifada that Minbar al-Hurriya is one of the most popular radio stations in Hebron.

Reporters for al-Huriyya tell listeners where protests are occurring and report up-to-date information on Israeli violence against Palestinians.

Palestinians inspect damage at the Minbar al-Hurriya radio station in Hebron on 3 November after Israeli soldiers stormed it and destroyed and confiscated equipment.

Wisam Hashlamoun
APA images

An army statement claimed Minbar al-Huriyya “broadcasts extreme incitement against the State of Israel, encourages stabbing attacks and supports violent demonstrations.”

“I believe they want to silence them and send a message to other radio stations in Hebron to self-censor,” Sharabati said.