Reporters Without Borders accepts prize from journalist-killing regime

By Ali Abunimah                                                                                                           

Reporters Without Borders is facing sharp criticism for accepting a prize from a regime that murders journalists.

Israel compiled ‘long file’ on journalist it deported

German journalist Martin Lejeune witnessed the destruction caused by Israel in Gaza during the summer of 2014. Photo shows a graffiti seen in one of the destroyed quarter of Shujayea, east of Gaza city, March 21, 2015. The rubble is recycled to produce bad quality concrete. 100,000 Palestinians are still displaced and many live in dire conditions. Rebuilding materials are scarce as the Gaza Strip face restrictions imposed by Israel. Anne Paq ActiveStills

Adri Nieuwhof Rights and Accountability

(December 18) – Israel’s Government Press Office appears to be building up files on international journalists who criticize the oppression faced by Palestinians.

The conduct of this surveillance has been revealed by German journalist Martin Lejeune who has been deported from Tel Aviv.

Journalists: Your colleagues in Palestine are under daily Israeli attacks!

May 4th was World Press Freedom Day. So far in 2015, 44 journalists have died in the line of work. Israel alone killed 17 Palestinian media workers its 51-day military aggression against the Gaza Strip.

Un-Explained – A Hamas senior official along with a Palestinian media organization demanded on Sunday the prosecution of Israel for killing, injuring and arresting Palestinian pressmen.

Freedom of expression: The ‘only democracy in the Middle East’ even arrests Jewish journalists

Israeli state leaders who SUPPRESS freedom of expression by armed force rallied with other state leaders who SUPPRESS freedom of expression yesterday in France in SUPPORT of free expression.

Netanyahu (cheerily waving to the crowd), Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, France’s President Francois Hollande, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, EU President Donald Tusk, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas march during a rally in Paris. Jan. 11, 2015 | AP

Israeli forces killed 17 Palestinian journalists in 2014. They also arrest Jewish journalists for “insulting soldiers”:

“False arrests won’t stop us covering Israel’s occupation

“If we were suspected of having spat at soldiers, it is easy to imagine the intolerable ease with which the soldiers could say, falsely, that a Palestinian had pulled a knife at a checkpoint or threatened them a moment before they shot him dead.”

“The allegations against us: violating an emergency order and insulting a soldier. The law books contain no statutes about insulting a journalist.” – GIDEON LEVY in Haaretz

The slain Palestinian journalists you don’t hear about

Some were killed in their homes, others were “deliberately targeted”

Ma’an News Agency (August 26) – A Palestinian media watchdog said that July was the bloodiest month on record in the history of the Palestinian press, as nine journalists were killed and eight media outlets shelled during the ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza.

The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms said in a statement that the targeting of Palestinian media had continued into August, with at least six more journalists killed in the last three weeks as well.

IFJ condemns shooting of photojournalist in Ramallah

[Press Release, 5 March 2013] – A PALESTINIAN PHOTOJOURNALIST was shot and severely injured by an Israeli soldier near the Ofer prison in Ramallah last Friday evening, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate (PJS), affiliated to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).

The IFJ has today condemned the shooting, calling for an investigation to identify and punish the shooter.

Palestinian journalists in Israeli detention

27 Palestinian journalists detained in the last two years by Zionist “democracy”

(23 February 2013) – The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today backed the call by its affiliate in Palestine, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate (PJS), which organised a protest in Ramallah to demand the release of their colleagues held by Israel.

The PJS organised the sit-in protest outside the Ofer detention center in east of Ramallah  while an Israeli court held a hearing in the case of detained Palestinian journalist Amir Abu Arafah and cartoonist Muhammad Sabanah.

Dossier on Palestine: A media of progress, enlightenment and freedom is possible

SHUNPIKING MAGAZINE hosted a special forum on the occasion of the publication of its new, book-length special edition, Dossier on Palestine, on 28 October 2002. Dr. Ismail Zayid, president of the Canada Palestine Association, longtime activist and a contributing writer, and Tony Seed, on behalf of the editorial staff, both provided their views on the significance of this initiative. Both presentations were repeatedly interrupted by applause. Despite the fact that the book launch was organized with only two days notice, fifty one people attended the lively function held in the hall at St. Antonios Antiochan Orthodox Church in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Participants expressed tremendous enthusiasm and a high regard for the quality of the information, historical context, photo essays, maps and information graphics, and perspectives contained in the 96-page work, of which 20,000 copies were printed as an initial press run. Initial orders were placed for 4,050 copies of the Dossier, which retails for $Cdn 5.00.*

We are reproducing the text of the address by Tony Seed, editor and publisher of Shunpiking Magazine, to the forum.