Around 60 international organizations advocating for press freedom requested on Monday that the European Union suspend the partnership agreement it signed with Israel due to violations of media freedom and the unprecedented killing of journalists since the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip began more than 10 months ago.
The organizations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, Human Rights Watch, and the European Federation of Journalists, highlighted in their letter that the Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has implemented a series of measures since the war broke out after Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7th. These measures have effectively imposed a censorship regime, significantly restricting media freedom.
The organizations called on EU Foreign Minister Josep Borrell and Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis to suspend the partnership agreement, particularly concerning trade exchanges with Israel, and to impose targeted sanctions on those responsible for human rights violations.
The letter stated that more than 100 Palestinian journalists have been killed in the conflict, along with two Israeli journalists and three Lebanese journalists, making this “the deadliest period” for journalism in decades. The letter emphasized that some of the journalists may have been “targeted.”
The organizations also pointed out that foreign journalists have been practically barred from entering the Gaza Strip, and highlighted the “arbitrary arrests” of media workers, with at least 49 detained.
The organizations stressed that “the cumulative effect of these abuses creates conditions for a media vacuum, allowing propaganda and misinformation to flourish.” They called for the “preservation of media freedom,” the “protection of journalists’ lives,” and an “end to impunity” ahead of the upcoming meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on August 29.
