Dozens of South African journalists have held a protest in Cape Town’s Sea Point to stand against Israel’s killing of Palestinian reporters in Gaza. The demonstration was organized by Journalists Against Apartheid (JAA) in solidarity with protesters globally who have condemned the killings.
The protest follows the targeted assassination of six journalists on August 10, including prominent Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sharif, in a media tent outside Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Data from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the International Federation of Journalists, and shireen.ps indicates that a total of 269 Palestinian journalists have been killed so far. The CPJ believes at least 26 of these journalists, including Al-Sharif, were deliberately targeted. Israel has for years accused Al-Sharif of being a terrorist but has not provided credible evidence, according to the CPJ.
JAA, an organization formed last year in honor of killed journalists, stated that powerful governments failed to protect Al-Sharif from this assassination. As a result, they said, “on Sunday night, Israel took away a father, husband, and son simply for doing his job.” The group added that Israel “admitted to targeting Al-Sharif, remaining silent on the five other journalists it killed in the same attack.” JAA praised the Palestinian journalists, saying they have worked in the harshest conditions for 22 months without respite, and despite the “unfolding genocide, and forced starvation, they keep reporting on the horrors they themselves are victims of.” The group also highlighted a “Deadly Pattern” report by the CPJ, which details five false claims of terrorism or militant activity made by Israel against journalists killed between 2004 and 2018.
JAA spokesperson Deshnee Subramany expressed outrage at Western media for “repeated Israeli lies without scrutiny while silencing Palestinian voices, permitting this genocide to continue.” She said many media outlets have contributed to disinformation campaigns against Palestine and demanded that these media houses cease what she called “disastrous propaganda.” Subramany also condemned South African media organizations that have taken “sponsored propaganda trips to Israel and published this propaganda” without disclosing how these trips were funded. She called this a shameful breach of journalistic ethics in a country where the media’s bravery was central to dismantling apartheid.
Subramany concluded by saying JAA stands in solidarity with protesters worldwide who have condemned Israel’s killings. She urged governments to act immediately to protect the remaining Palestinian journalists before all of Gaza’s media workers are killed. “We stand with international human rights organisations who recognise that Israel’s military actions and policies in Palestine amount to apartheid and genocide,” she said.
Source: African Publicity
