(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Israeli Minister of Defence Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, RSF protested Israeli soldiers’ recent shooting at a team of journalists from the Lebanese television channel Al-Manar on the Lebanese side of the Israeli border. RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard called on the minister “to make sure that this type of intimidation does not […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Israeli Minister of Defence Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, RSF protested Israeli soldiers’ recent shooting at a team of journalists from the Lebanese television channel Al-Manar on the Lebanese side of the Israeli border. RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard called on the minister “to make sure that this type of intimidation does not happen again,” adding, “In no circumstances should Tsahal [the Israeli Army] intimidate journalists with gunshots. This act is very worrying as it represents the fourth time in a little over one year that Lebanese journalists have been shot at in this area.” RSF noted that Israeli Army Chief of Staff Shaul Moffaz is now included on the organisation’s list of thirty-nine international press freedom predators. Since the beginning of the second Intifada, RSF has recorded forty-five cases of journalists injured by bullets in the Occupied Territories. In most of these instances, the organisation believes that the shootings came from Israeli soldiers.
According to information collected by RSF, on 18 November 2001, a team of journalists from the Lebanese television channel Al-Manar (which belongs to the Shiite movement Hezbollah) were shot at by Israeli soldiers next to the border village of Kfarchouba. According to the Hezbollah, an Asian journalist and European journalists were present at the scene and were also shot at. Israeli soldiers reportedly opened fire on the journalists, aiming between their feet.
