Israeli military commander justifies killing journalists who are ‘armed with cameras’
The death this week of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh — who was shot dead during an Israeli raid in the West Bank city of Jenin — has highlighted the dangers reporters face while covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Abu Akleh, a veteran correspondent who worked for the Al Jazeera news network, was wearing protective gear and a vest marked “press” as she covered the morning raid Wednesday. Such gear is standard and meant to distinguish journalists from crowds and combatants while signaling to all sides that they should not be targeted.
But in an interview with Israel’s army radio Wednesday, a military spokesman said that Abu Akleh and her colleagues were “filming and working for a media outlet amidst armed Palestinians.”
“They’re armed with cameras, if you’ll permit me to say so,” said Brig. Gen. Ran Kochav.
At least 19 journalists have been killed in Israel and the Palestinian territories since 1992, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Sixteen of those killed were Palestinians, who disproportionately bear the brunt of the violence by Israel’s military in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Many other reporters, photographers and video journalists have been injured by missile strikes, live fire, rubber bullets, tear gas and physical altercations while on assignment. [Continue reading…]