Around 60 media and rights organisationson August 26 urged the European Union to halt its cooperation agreement with Israel and impose sanctions, accusing the country of targeting journalists in Gaza, reports Middle East Monitor.
“In response to the unprecedented number of journalists killed and other repeated press freedom violations by the Israeli authorities since the start of the war with Hamas, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and 59 other organisations are calling on the European Union to suspend its Association Agreement with Israel and to adopt targeted sanctions against those responsible,” the groups said in a joint statement.
The appeal was made ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Thursday. Since Israel’s ongoing brutal offensive on Gaza, which began last October, the period “has been the deadliest for journalists in decades,” according to the statement.
“More than 130 Palestinian journalists and media professionals have been killed by the Israeli armed forces in Gaza since 7 October. At least 30 of them were killed in the course of their work, three Lebanese journalists and an Israeli journalist have also been [killed] during the same period,” the statement added.
“The targeted or indiscriminate killing of journalists, whether committed deliberately or recklessly, is a war crime,” it added.
The EU’s association agreements with non-member countries outline the terms of bilateral relations, including trade, with Article 2 of the agreement mandating “respect for human rights and democratic principles,” as highlighted by Julie Majerczak, the head of RSF’s Brussels office.
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