CPJ protests police attacks on journalists

(CPJ/IFEX) – According to CPJ, on 30 September 1998, Israeli police assaulted a group of Palestinian journalists who were attempting to film clashes between Palestinians and Jewish settlers in Hebron (West Bank). Among those attacked were Nasser al-Shyioukhi and Imad al-Said of the Associated Press (AP) and Mazen Dana, Nayef Hashlaman, and Nael Shyioukhi of […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – According to CPJ, on 30 September 1998, Israeli police
assaulted a group of Palestinian journalists who were attempting to film
clashes between Palestinians and Jewish settlers in Hebron (West Bank).
Among those attacked were Nasser al-Shyioukhi and Imad al-Said of the
Associated Press (AP) and Mazen Dana, Nayef Hashlaman, and Nael Shyioukhi of
Reuters. According to the journalists, Israeli police punched and kicked
them after telling them that the area was closed to journalists. Israeli and
foreign
reporters had in fact been granted access to report the event. Jewish
settlers who were in the vicinity of the attack joined the fray; one of them
kicked Dana in the face. The journalists said that police also hit them with
their rifles and eventually forced them to evacuate the Israeli-controlled
section of Hebron.

Local journalists reported that an unidentified cameraman from the local
Mustaqbal TV was arrested after being severely beaten by police. He was
released after a few hours in order to receive medical treatment.

The attack on 30 September comes just two days after the brutal police
beating of al-Said, while he was attempting to cover another violent
encounter between Palestinians and Jewish settlers in Hebron on 28
September. Al-Said was on his way to the Tal al-Remaideh neighborhood in
Hebron when two policemen from the Anti-Terrorism Unit approached him and
told him that the area was closed by military order. After al-Said requested
to see the written order, one of the officers threatened him, saying “if you
don’t go away you will see what will happen to you.” The officer then
grabbed al-Said by the neck and proceeded to kick him in the back. The
officer also began to choke him and kicked him in the groin. Footage of the
incident, filmed by al-Said’s colleagues, was broadcast on the evening of
Monday, 28 September on Israel TV’s Channel One.

CPJ is aware that Israeli police quickly responded to the incident by
dismissing the officer in question from his unit, but the organisation has
also learned that he remains on active duty in another unit.

For many years, CPJ has documented a disturbing pattern of physical assault
and armed attacks carried out by Israeli armed forces against journalists
attempting to perform their professional duties. Repeated requests from CPJ
for information on the status of investigations into specific attacks
against journalists have gone unanswered by Israeli authorities. To date,
CPJ is unaware of a single case in which members of the Israeli Defence
Forces (IDF) or police have been prosecuted or severely disciplined for
attacks against members of the press.

It is CPJ’s position that violent attacks on journalists, if unpunished,
will have a chilling effect on the ability of the press to function and can
only encourage similar attacks from occurring in the future. The failure of
the Israeli government to punish members of the police and armed forces
sends a disturbing message: that those who seek to silence the press through
physical attack can do so with impunity.

Recommended Action

His Excellency Benjamin Netanyahu

Prime Minister of the State of Israel

Office of the Prime Minister

3 Kaplan Street

Kiryat Ben-Gurion

Jerusalem, Israel 91919

Fax: +972 2 664 838/697 7839/3 691 7915

email: likud1@likud.org.il