Journalists say Israel’s fresh threats to take dire sanctions against media covering the upcoming Gaza flotilla raise “serious questions about Israel’s commitment” to press freedom.
Journalists say Israel’s fresh threats to take dire sanctions against media covering the upcoming Gaza flotilla raise “serious questions about Israel’s commitment” to press freedom.
The statement issued by the Foreign Press Association in Israel was in response to a letter by the Government Press Office threatening to bar journalists joining the flotilla from entering the 1948-occupied territories for ten years.
The FPA statement says the “threat to punish journalists covering the Gaza flotilla sends a chilling message to the international media and raises serious questions about Israel’s commitment to freedom of the press”.
“Journalists covering a legitimate news event should be allowed to do their jobs without threats and intimidation,” the statement adds.
More than forty Western and Arab media outlets are set to join the flotilla.
“The Israeli threats, which conflict with all standards of human values, will not deter the peace activists on board the ships from achieving their objective of reaching Gaza, and they will not stop journalists and media organizations from carrying out their professional role in covering the international event,” said Khadir al-Mashayikh, the media official of the ship from Jordan scheduled to join the flotilla.
He called the threats “further evidence of the falsehood of Tel Aviv’s democracy claims”.
The source recalled that one of those killed during Israel’s military raid of flotilla’s predecessor in 2010 was a Turkish journalist who was filming the attack. The military force also confiscated all of the cameras on board and cut the ship’s internet connection.
Source : AhlulBayt News Agency
Journalists say Israel’s fresh threats to take dire sanctions against media covering the upcoming Gaza flotilla raise “serious questions about Israel’s commitment” to press freedom.
The statement issued by the Foreign Press Association in Israel was in response to a letter by the Government Press Office threatening to bar journalists joining the flotilla from entering the 1948-occupied territories for ten years.
The FPA statement says the “threat to punish journalists covering the Gaza flotilla sends a chilling message to the international media and raises serious questions about Israel’s commitment to freedom of the press”.
“Journalists covering a legitimate news event should be allowed to do their jobs without threats and intimidation,” the statement adds.
More than forty Western and Arab media outlets are set to join the flotilla.
“The Israeli threats, which conflict with all standards of human values, will not deter the peace activists on board the ships from achieving their objective of reaching Gaza, and they will not stop journalists and media organizations from carrying out their professional role in covering the international event,” said Khadir al-Mashayikh, the media official of the ship from Jordan scheduled to join the flotilla.
He called the threats “further evidence of the falsehood of Tel Aviv’s democracy claims”.
The source recalled that one of those killed during Israel’s military raid of flotilla’s predecessor in 2010 was a Turkish journalist who was filming the attack. The military force also confiscated all of the cameras on board and cut the ship’s internet connection.
Source : AhlulBayt News Agency
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