On Monday, some sixty media and human rights organizations called on the European Union to revoke Israel’s cooperation agreement and apply sanctions, alleging that the country is “massacring 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 call was made in advance of the EU foreign ministers’ August 29 meeting in Brussels.
The letter claimed that the time after Israel’s deadly counterattack on the Gaza Strip and Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel “has been the deadliest for journalists in decades.”
“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”, it says.
“The targeted or indiscriminate killing of journalists, whether committed or recklessly, is a war crime”, it said.
The treaties that govern bilateral relations, including commerce, are the association agreements between the EU and non-member nations.
“Respect for human rights and democratic principles” is outlined in Article 2 of the agreement, according to Julie Majerczak, head of RSF’s Brussels office.
“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 (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu government stops massacring journalists and respects the right to information and press freedom by opening media access to Gaza,” she said.
Among the signatories were the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Human Rights Watch (HRW).
