Israel ‘biggest killer of journalists’ in the world: CPJ chief

[0:00] Now, Israeli forces have killed our colleague from Al Jazeera, Mubashar, in a targeted drone strike in western Gaza. [0:07] Mohamed Mushah was a correspondent for our sister channel. [0:11] The airstrike caused the car he was traveling in to burst into flames. [0:15] Gaza's government media office says 262 journalists have been killed since Israel's war began in 2023. [0:26] Let's continue this with Jody Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists. [0:30] She joins us now live from New York. [0:32] So looking at the circumstances of this, that it was a killing conducted by a drone. [0:37] What does that suggest to you? [0:41] Well, it suggests, unfortunately, another targeted killing of a journalist by Israel. [0:46] And unfortunately, that's a pattern that we have seen consistently since October the 7th. [0:51] As your colleague mentioned, at least 260 journalists and media workers have been killed since the start of the war. [0:58] That makes Israel the biggest killer of journalists since CPJ started documenting those deaths back in 1992. [1:08] It has killed more journalists than any other government, any other military force in the world. [1:13] And we have seen this pattern repeatedly in which journalists who are clearly, evidently journalists, wearing press vests, in cars that are clearly labeled, being deliberately targeted. [1:26] And that would constitute a war crime. [1:29] Journalists are civilians and should never be targeted in a war. [1:32] And when you have that number of journalists in that pattern, what does it suggest to you in terms of the desire to control what the world can or cannot see come out of Gaza? [1:44] Well, I think it's very evident that Israel is seeking to control the narrative about what is happening inside Gaza. [1:53] We've seen the systematic targeting of journalists, the systematic killing of journalists. [1:59] But we've also seen attacks on media facilities. [2:02] We've seen the closure of media outlets such as Al Jazeera, for example, the closure of Al Jazeera's Jerusalem Bureau. [2:09] And, of course, censorship of Israeli media outlets themselves and, of course, the unprecedented refusal to allow independent media access inside Gaza to anyone from outside Gaza. [2:24] And that, of course, is all part of a pattern in which Israel is seeking to control what information we outside of Gaza receive about what's happening there. [2:35] You mentioned possible war crimes. [2:37] You mentioned the extreme number, more than 260 journalists killed. [2:44] Has there been any accountability, any justice in any of those cases? [2:51] Not in a single case. [2:53] And this is a pattern, it's important to mention, that we saw in the decades prior to October the 7th. [2:59] This is not something new. [3:01] In the two decades prior to October the 7th, at least 20 journalists were killed by Israel. [3:08] And there wasn't, has been no accountability in a single one of those cases. [3:12] Of course, perhaps the most prominent being the killing and murder of Shireen Abu Akleh, also an Al Jazeera journalist in Janine, in 2022. [3:22] So this is a pattern that we've seen. [3:24] There has been no accountability inside Israel. [3:27] And there has been almost no pressure internationally to hold Israel to account, to ensure that it upholds its commitment to protect civilians and to uphold press freedom. [3:41] What options do journalists left there have, then, Jodie? [3:49] Very few. [3:50] I think we need to be frank. [3:51] Very few. [3:52] It is the deadliest place in the world to be a journalist. [3:55] It used to be the case, as I mentioned, that wearing a press vest, having a car that was labelled press, was a form of protection. [4:03] Now it seems as if it makes you a target. [4:06] And, of course, remember that journalists are being surveilled when they use their phones to make contact with their news outlets outside. [4:15] When they're trying to film, they are visible, and that makes them increasingly targets. [4:22] What we can do is to continue to be extremely vocal about Israel's crimes and the need for accountability. [4:31] We need to keep pushing for international media access to Gaza, independent external access to Gaza, and continue to call out these crimes. [4:40] And, of course, it's worth saying that it wasn't just, unfortunately, the killing that we saw today in Gaza. [4:45] At least two journalists were also killed in Lebanon just today. [4:49] So this is something that is spreading outside of Gaza. [4:53] Journalists are being killed in Lebanon. [4:55] And the failure to punish those who are responsible for crimes against journalists encourages further killings, further attacks on journalists. [5:06] All right. [5:06] And that's Jodie Ginsberg, the CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists.