Watchdog Urges UN Probe of Deliberate Israeli Attacks on Journalists

During Gaza War, Israel Repeatedly Targeted TV, Newspaper Offices

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), a major international watchdog group aimed at preventing censorship and intimidation of the media, has called on the United Nations to launch a formal investigation into the deliberate targeting of journalists during this month’s Gaza War.

During the week-long war, Israel launched several direct attacks on media outlets in the strip, attacking al-Quds TV and later attacking cameramen inside of a car marked “TV” who were working for al-Aqsa TV. Some of the first strikes in the war also targeted the offices of al-Risala Newspaper and the al-Rantisi printer company, which operates the printing press for the al-Risala paper.

And while domestic media were primarily targeted, Israel’s attacks on the press also included multiple attacks on Agence France-Presse’s (AFP) Gaza bureau, claim the bureau was being used as a “Hamas operations center.”

And despite the excuse used in the AFP attacks, Israeli officials were unrepentant about many of the attacks. claiming that the journalists aren’t “credible journalists” because the local outlets need to be licensed by Hamas.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.