European Union foreign ministers will meet in Brussels on August 29 to discuss concerns raised by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and several media organizations and associations regarding violations of press freedom committed by the State of Israel. “These violations should lead to the suspension of the Association Agreement between the European Union and Israel,” says the letter signed on August 26 by 60 national and international organizations promoting press freedom.
The letter to the foreign ministers of the EU countries stresses that this is the deadliest time for journalists in decades. The document lists the violations of the freedom of journalistic activity, including the impossibility of entering the Gaza Strip: “Since October 7, 2023, the Netanyahu government has taken a series of unprecedented measures to restrict media freedom, which has effectively led to the establishment of a censorship regime.”
The letter also points to restrictions within Israel itself. Since April 2024, the government has been authorized by law to temporarily ban international news channels from broadcasting in Israel if they are deemed a threat to national security, which led to the closure of Al Jazeera in Israel.
RSF and the other organizations urged the European Union to “clearly” demand several measures to restore freedom of information, including “granting access and defending freedom of reporting, lifting the blockade on international, Israeli and Palestinian journalists who do not have independent access to the Gaza Strip, and releasing all Palestinian journalists in administrative detention or held without charge.”
The appeal also included a demand to “guarantee the safety of all journalists, in particular by allowing the delivery of information materials and security equipment to reporters in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.”
