An annual report of the Committee to Support Journalists has monitored more than 476 violations by the Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian journalists in all the occupied territories.
The report covers the period from January 01, 2020 to December 25, 2020, indicating that violations of the right of journalists and media professionals were deliberately committed without taking into account the principles of distinction and proportionality, striking against all international, human rights and humanitarian instruments that guarantee freedom of journalistic work.
The report indicated that it monitored 127 violations by Palestinian parties in Gaza and the West Bank, including crimes of violating the right to life and personal safety of journalists, and journalists being beaten and other means of violence or insults and treatment that diminish human dignity.
The report recorded 436 violations by fighting Palestinian content by social media platforms, in cooperation with the Israeli occupation.
The committee affirmed in a report that there has been a noticeable escalation in the occupation’s assault on freedoms in the occupied Palestinian territories, noting that its intensity increased in last February, as a result of the occupation’s targeting of a large number of journalists and their various injuries and preventing a large number of journalists from covering and practicing their journalistic work.
The committee´s report showed the extent of the Israeli occupation forces´ excessive targeting of Palestinian journalists, and their deliberate shooting of live and metal-coated rubber-coated bullets and poisonous gas bombs, against them deliberately in continuing its crime to exclude journalists and the media from the crime scene against citizens in the occupied Palestinian territories, despite the journalists wearing special clothing With them in the middle, a sign that they are practicing their profession.
It indicated that the occupation used excessive force in beating, threatening and insulting journalists, and using them as human shields, despite their presence in places relatively far from the demonstrators, and they did not pose any danger or threat to the occupation soldiers, in addition to its persistence in raiding journalists´ homes and media offices, confiscating their equipment and preventing them from coverage. Travel, arrest and detention, and impose fines for a number of them and deport them, according to conditions that restrict their freedom of movement, work, opinion and expression.
The Committee to Support Journalists held the occupation full responsibility for the massive campaign of arrests against journalists, deportations, the demolition of the home of the journalist and Dad Barghouti, the banning of Palestine TV for three consecutive six months, renewable, and the threat of arrest for the TV crew if they continue their professional work in the areas of Jerusalem and the occupied interior.
It also held the occupation government fully responsible for this new crime, which is added to the record of its organized terrorism crimes against Palestinian journalists, in which dozens of journalist martyrs were killed, hundreds were injured, and all forms of crimes against journalists were committed, affirming that these crimes will not be subject to statute of limitations and that the perpetrators of these crimes will not go unpunished. And they will be held accountable and drawn to international courts to be punished according to all international laws. According to the commission´s report.
She said, "The continuing violations of the occupation of journalists and media institutions reflect the extent of the success of the Palestinian media and its knights in conveying the truth, and exposing the falsehood of the Israeli narration of what is happening of crimes against the defenseless Palestinian people."
The committee called on the United Nations and the countries of the whole world to exercise their moral and legal role in deterring the occupying state from its inhuman practices against the Palestinian people and their journalists, and to provide them with the necessary protection to perform their professional, national and humanitarian role, and to demand international press institutions to expose these practices against Palestinian journalists on the largest scale, and to pressure The Israeli occupation must stop these violations and preserve freedom of journalistic work.
The report monitors, in its details, (84) cases of assault and shooting against journalists, including female journalists, whether the targeting was directly with live bullets or rubber-coated bullets, or beating and kicking with sticks and rifle butts, inflicting injury, fractures and bruises throughout their bodies, insults and treatment that diminishes dignity and the release of the occupation settlers Fierce dogs toward journalists, choking on the inhalation of poisonous gas and pepper gas, and their equipment was destroyed and smashed.
He also recorded (82) cases in which journalists were arrested, summoned, detained for hours and days, and deported from the city of Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and they were used as human shields during its suppression of peaceful confrontations and marches in defense of Palestinian rights and lands, most of whom were released during the year.
He indicated that there are 10 journalists and media workers detained in the occupation prisons, Mujahid Mardawi, who has been sentenced to 10 months in prison, Mujahid al-Saadi, Osama Shaheen, Mahmoud Ayyad, Bushra al-Tawil, and all of them are administratively detained, and Ahmed Abu Hababa, Tariq Abu Zaid, Ahmed Abu Sobeih, Tamer Al-Barghouti and Laith Jaar were arrested without charge.
The report of the Committee to Support Journalists documented (53) violations, which varied between extending the detention more than once prior to the date of their release, confirming sentences against journalists, issuing sentences against others, postponing the trial of some of them still in the occupation prisons and being deported from Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The report also monitored (103) cases in which journalists were prevented from practicing their work and covering events, and recorded (27) cases of incitement, accusation, death threats, and prosecution of journalists and media institutions, and more than (3) cases of closures and threats to close and prevent media institutions from operating.
The report recorded (33) cases of storming, raiding, searching, smashing, and demolishing the homes of journalists and their media institutions, tampering with their contents, and destroying upside down.
The annual report also recorded (46) cases of confiscation of press equipment, equipment and materials, as well as revoking identity documents, whether during the raids and incursions into the homes of journalists and their media institutions, or during the prevention of coverage, seizing them, confiscating their equipment and destroying their cameras.
The occupation did not stop at this huge number of violations, but continued to prevent journalists from traveling, whether to receive treatment, attend an international conference, or award prizes to them, which were recorded in the report, which number (4) cases of travel bans.
The report focused on the violations and harassment that journalists are subjected to in the occupation prisons, which amounted to (41) violations of their right, including abuse, torture and cruel treatment during interrogation sessions, preventing them from visiting their lawyers and their families, and submitting an indictment for their continued detention, refusal to release them, and medical negligence. In their treatment, including imposing heavy financial fines on 15 journalists and depriving them of their legitimate rights.
In the context of fighting Palestinian content by the management of social networking sites, the Report of the Committee to Support Journalists during the year 2020 recorded (436) cases, including the closure of the accounts of dozens of news and media websites and the accounts of media workers working on these sites, which varied between deleting pages and accounts, banning, preventing publication and deleting publications. Prevent commenting, restrict access to pages, prevent live broadcasts, and delete old posts dating back years.
