Briefing: Killed, Jailed, Censored: Journalists During Israel’s Assault on Gaza

Gaza is the deadliest place to be a journalist today. More than 75% of journalists killed worldwide in 2023 died during Israel’s assault on Gaza. The Committee to Protect Journalists has expressed concern about the Israeli military’s “apparent pattern of targeting journalists,” and the silencing of Palestinian journalists is not limited to Gaza. In the West Bank, Israel’s jailing of Palestinian journalists has reached an all-time high, tying it with Iran as the sixth worst jailer of journalists globally.
Join us on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 1:00-2:00 p.m. ET, to hear about the latest efforts to hold the Israeli government accountable for its assault on journalists, to consider how this lethal environment for journalists is impacting our ability to understand what’s happening on the ground, and to examine what it says about the future of covering conflict zones safely. We will also discuss the challenges that journalists outside of Gaza are facing as they seek to cover the war accurately and ethically, whether based in the U.S. or within Israel itself.
Our speakers include:
Fadi Abu Shammalah, a Palestinian journalist from Gaza who was recently evacuated with his family to the U.S. via Egypt, and who still has colleagues trying to report what is happening on the ground as Israel closes in on Rafah. He also serves as a Just Vision outreach associate. You can read more about Fadi’s experience in this New York Times op-ed.
Gypsy Guillén Kaiser, advocacy and communications director for the Committee to Protect Journalists, which is investigating and documenting the plight of Palestinian journalists. Their most recent reports are available here.
Haggai Matar, executive director of +972 Magazine, an independent, online, nonprofit magazine run by a group of Palestinian and Israeli journalists. He is also co-director, together with Just Vision's Suhad Babaa, of the Hebrew-language news site Local Call, and serves on the board of the Union of Journalists in Israel.
Karen Attiah, a columnist at The Washington Post who has written and posted extensively about the impact of the current violence on journalists and other civilians (“Where is the outrage over Israel’s killing of journalists in Gaza?”). Karen was the winner of the 2019 George Polk Award as well as the 2019 Journalist of the Year Award from the National Association of Black Journalists. She has been a fierce advocate for accountability and justice since agents of Saudi Arabia killed her late colleague, Saudi-American journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Julia Bacha, Just Vision’s creative director and filmmaker (Boycott, Budrus) (Moderator).
We will be taking your questions during the virtual briefing.
This event is sponsored by Just Vision, Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU), +972 Magazine, Jewish Currents, the Arab and Middle Eastern Journalists Association (AMEJA), and the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Kindly note that this briefing will be on-the-record and conducted virtually. A Zoom link will be provided upon registration.