On Monday, nearly 60 media and rights organisations urged the European Union to suspend its cooperation agreement with Israel and impose sanctions on it, accusing it of carrying out a “massacre of journalists” in Gaza.
“In response to the unprecedented number of journalists killed by Israeli authorities since the start of the war with Hamas and other repeated violations of press freedom, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and 59 other organisations are calling on the EU to suspend its Association Agreement with Israel and adopt targeted sanctions against those responsible”, the groups said in a joint statement.
The call comes ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on August 29.
The letter said the period following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 and Israel’s devastating retaliatory strike on the Gaza Strip “has been the deadliest for journalists in decades”.
It said, “More than 130 Palestinian journalists and media professionals have been killed by Israeli armed forces in Gaza since 7 October. At least 30 of these journalists were killed in the course of their work; three Lebanese journalists and one Israeli journalist were also killed during the same period.”
It states, “The targeted or indiscriminate killing of journalists, whether committed deliberately or negligently, is a war crime.”
The EU’s association agreements with non-member countries are treaties that govern bilateral relations, including trade.
Julie Majerczak, head of RSF’s Brussels office, said Article 2 of the agreement requires “respect for human rights and democratic principles.”
“The Israeli government is clearly violating this article. The European Union, Israel’s major trading partner, should draw the necessary conclusions from this and do everything possible to ensure that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government stops the massacre of journalists and respects the right to information and freedom of the press by opening media access to Gaza,” he said.
Signatories included the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Human Rights Watch (HRW).
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