Rights groups urge EU to end cooperation with Israel as it is ‘massacring journalists’

Around 60 media and rights organisations urged the European Union yesterday to halt its cooperation agreement with Israel and impose sanctions, accusing the country of targeting journalists in Gaza.

“In response to the unprecedented number of journalists killed and other repeated press freedom violations by the Israeli authorities since the start of the war with Hamas, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and 59 other organisations are calling on the European Union to suspend its Association Agreement with Israel and to adopt targeted sanctions against those responsible,” the groups said in a joint statement.

The appeal was made ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Thursday. Since Israel’s ongoing brutal offensive on Gaza, which began last October, the period “has been the deadliest for journalists in decades,” according to the statement.

“More than 130 Palestinian journalists and media professionals have been killed by the Israeli armed forces in Gaza since 7 October. At least 30 of them were killed in the course of their work, three Lebanese journalists and an Israeli journalist have also been [killed] during the same period,” the statement added.

“The targeted or indiscriminate killing of journalists, whether committed deliberately or recklessly, is a war crime,” it added.

The EU’s association agreements with non-member countries outline the terms of bilateral relations, including trade, with Article 2 of the agreement mandating “respect for human rights and democratic principles,” as highlighted by Julie Majerczak, the head of RSF’s Brussels office.

She said: “The Israeli government is clearly trampling on this article. The EU, which is Israel’s leading trade partner, must draw the necessary conclusions from this and must do everything to ensure that the Netanyahu government stops massacring journalists and respects the right to information and press freedom by opening media access to Gaza.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists and Human Rights Watch (HRW) are among the organisations that signed the statement.

Israel’s onslaught against Gaza has killed over 40,470 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and wounded nearly 94,000 others, according to local health authorities. Vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice for its actions in the blockaded enclave. The apartheid state denies the allegation.