The Truth Dies in Darkness

Canadian Journalists for Free Expression calls on the Canadian government to condemn the killing and intimidating of journalists who are covering the conflict in Gaza, Israel, Lebanon and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. CJFE demands that Israel allow journalists to do their jobs without fear of death, detention or harassment.

Since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 and Israel declared war on Hamas, more journalists have been killed than in any conflict since the Committee to Protect Journalists began to keep records. Its last tally, from December 11, reports that 63 journalists and media workers are confirmed dead: 56 Palestinian and 3 Lebanese journalists are among the 18,000 killed by the IDF. Four Israeli journalists were among the 1200 killed during the Hamas massacre on October 7.

International groups monitoring the media have investigated what they believe to be targeted attacks on journalists. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty international concluded that the Israeli military fired artillery shells toward the border with Lebanon that killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and wounded six others. HRW said the “evidence indicates that the Israeli military knew or should have known that the group of people they were firing on were civilians”, making it an apparent deliberate attack on civilians, thus a “war crime”.

The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that at least 19 journalists have been arrested by Israeli authorities since October 7, while others have been harrassed and doxxed, both Jewish and Arab Israeli citizens. Israeli government social media has accused reporters of being collaborators with Hamas, and hence valid targets. This must stop.

CJFE calls for the release of jailed journalists and for both Hamas and the IDF to allow journalists to do their jobs. It calls for full investigations into the deaths of reporters so that those responsible for these killings are not granted impunity.