‘Draconian methods’: Israel knocked for jailing, killing journalists
Arno Rosenfeld writes in Forward January 19, 2024
When images circulated of Israeli soldiers rounding of Palestinian men in their underwear in a northern Gaza neighborhood last month, several international journalists identified one of their colleagues among the group.
Diaa Al-Kahlout, bureau chief for Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, an Arabic-language publication based in London, was ultimately detained for a month without charges before his release.
Al-Kahlout, who said he was beaten and forced to eat expired food during his detention, was one of a record number of Palestinian journalists arrested by Israel last year, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The country was holding 17 journalists in jail when the watchdog group conducted its annual count, completed in December and released Thursday, ranking it alongside Iran and Eritrea as among the worst offenders when it comes to imprisoning journalists.
“Israel’s standing in CPJ’s 2023 prison census is evidence that a fundamental democratic norm — press freedom — is fraying as Israel exploits draconian methods to silence Palestinian journalists,” Jodie Ginsberg, CPJ’s chief executive, said in a statement. “This practice must stop.”
This year’s ranking of the ten worst offenders marks the first time that Israel has been included. China and Myanmar topped the list, detaining 44 and 43 journalists respectively. CPJ describes the report as a snapshot, and likens it to a census,” in that it includes journalists in government custody on Dec. 1., but not those released before or imprisoned after that date. Overall, the number of jailed journalists last year — 320 — was the second-highest recorded by CPJ since it began the census in 1992.
The Israeli military, which administers the West Bank, did not respond to a request for comment. A government spokesperson said at the time of Al-Kahlout’s arrest that he was among a group of “military-age men who were discovered in areas that civilians were supposed to have evacuated.”