– IFJ, Brussels.
Photo credit: PJS
Brussels, 15 November 2019 – The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the world’s largest organisation of the profession representing 600,000 members in 146 countries around the world, today joined its Palestinian affiliate, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS), in denouncing the latest serious attack on a journalist in Hebron.
Photojournalist Moath Amarneh today 15 November lost sight in the left eye after being seriously injured by a rubber bullet fired by an Israeli soldier in the Surif region of the Hebron governorate, where Amarneh was covering a protest against land confiscation. He was rushed to a hospital in Hebron for emergency treatment.
In a statement, the PJS condemned the attack, saying that “this deliberate targeting by the Israeli army of a colleague wearing a bullet-proof vest signed “Press”. It also called on “international institutions to act quickly to stop this violence against the press in Palestine”.
Anthony Bellanger, IFJ General secretary, said: “Once again, the IFJ deplores the attacks on Palestinian journalists by the Israeli military. The IFJ recalls that international law applies everywhere and that no government is above it. It is now time for the United Nations General Assembly to adopt the Convention for the Protection and Safety of Journalists, so that the impunity enjoyed by predators of press freedom and democracy can end in Israel as elsewhere.”
