IFJ, Israeli Journalists Federation don't see eye to eye

IFJ, Israeli Journalists Federation don't see eye to eye

“Israel needs to investigate all of the recent attacks on media and it must eliminate this pattern of targeting,” said IFJ General Secretary Aidan White. “The appalling perception is of soldiers opening fire on unarmed journalists and of intimidation of Arab journalists to keep them from covering the news in the Palestinian territories and in Lebanon.”

Today, a Palestinian cameraman was wounded after Israeli forces fired on a news crew of Palestine TV east of the Gaza Strip. Cameraman Ibrahim al-Atlah was seriously wounded. According to reports, al-Atlah is now paralysed due to his injuries.

The latest attack raises new fears of mounting media casualties in the Palestinian territories and in Lebanon since the latest round of violence began.

Photographer Layal Nejib was killed on Sunday in southern Lebanon after an Israeli missile attack. She worked for Al-Jaras magazine as well as other media outlets.

Israeli air raids on Saturday hit transmission stations used by several Lebanese television channels and killed media worker Suleiman Chidiac, a technician working for the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC). Two others were wounded in the strikes when relay stations for Future TV, Hezbollah-run Al-Manar television and LBC, the nation's leading private network, were attacked by Israeli bombs.

Those air strikes followed the July 13 strike by Israeli helicopters on the Al-Manar headquarters outside of Beirut that wounded seven people, including a television employee. Israeli aircraft later attacked an Al-Manar transmission tower in eastern Lebanon.

The IFJ has written to the head of the Israeli Defense Force, seeking an investigation into each of these cases. “It is imperative that we have answers about these incidents otherwise speculation about targeting media will persist,” said White. “The Israeli authorities must make it clear to military commanders that unarmed journalists and media are non-combatants. They must not come under fire.”

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesperson's Unit has not yet issued a press release on the incident.

Shaked: Hizbullah propaganda tool, not journalism

The chairman of the National Federation of Israeli Journalists, Arie Shaked, has accused the IFJ of having an "automatic anti-Israeli position" that he said has led to his decision to suspend their membership of the international press organization.

Shaked said: "There is definitely an anti-Israel trend in the IFJ. We still do not hear any condemnation of the terrorist attacks on Israel and on the Israeli media by Hezbollah."

The Israel Association of Journalists decided last Thursday to suspend its membership in the International Federation of Journalists to protest the association's condemnation of Israel's attacks on Hizbullah's Al-Manar television network.

In a strongly worded letter, the Israeli journalists accused IFJ general secretary Aidan White of "cowardice" for not retracting the organization's condemnation of Israel and said White deserved a "badge of shame" for calling the Hizbullah propaganda tool "free press."

"Al Manar gets its budget from the same people firing upon us," said the Israeli representative on the IFJ executive, Israel Radio broadcaster Yaron Enosh. "They are not journalists, they are terrorists and I won't and I won't carry the same press card that they carry."

Enosh told The Jerusalem Post that the IFJ's defense of Al-Manar was the straw that broke the camel's back after three years of repeated IFJ condemnations of Israel. He said the organization made no comment when five Israeli and foreign journalists were harmed by Hizbullah fire.

When Israel asked for a retraction of the condemnation, White issued a new press release three days later that condemned Israel for other incidents and again made no mention of Hizbullah attacks on journalists in Israel. Hizbullah kidnapped a group of journalists on Thursday night and later released them.

The European Union decided to ban Al-Manar from satellites in EU countries in 2000.