More than 100 journalists join forces with their colleagues in Palestine and protest against US complicity in their murder

On July 31, 2024 Al-JazeeraIsmail al-Ghoul was reporting from the Shati refugee camp in Gaza. Israel had just assassinated Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas' political bureau and a negotiator in the Gaza ceasefire talks, in Iran. Israel's killing left many bracing for a regional war, and the reporter, along with cameraman Rami al-Rif, headed to Haniyeh's former home to cover the developing story. As they reported, the Israeli military carried out an attack on a nearby house. Al-Ghoul and al-Rif were ordered to leave the area; they complied. Wearing blue press vests, they got into a car that also clearly identified them as members of the press. Israel launched a rocket attack on the car, killing both men. Photographs of the aftermath showed al-Ghoul's headless body, still wearing the blue press vest.

It was never much of a mystery who fired the rocket, but a day after the gruesome murder, Israel claimed responsibility for it. The Israeli military's official report boasted that they had “eliminated” al-Ghoul. Absurdly, the post claimed that al-Ghoul was a Hamas agent who “instructed other agents how to record operations and was actively involved in recording and publishing attacks on IDF troops,” a claim that was vehemently denied by Al Jazeera.

During its ten-month war against Gaza, Israel has killed a staggering number of journalists. According to the Palestinian Journalists Association, 160 journalists and media workers have died at Israel's hands. This is the highest number of journalists killed during a war in recorded historyFor comparison: 69 journalists were killed in World War II and 63 during the Vietnam War.

By arming Israel, the State Department bears responsibility for the murder of journalists. That is why we, as leaders of organizations dedicated to defending press freedom and free expression, have formed a coalition of journalists and journalist activists to co-author a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling on the United States to immediately impose an arms embargo on Israel.

More than 100 journalists, including four Pulitzer Prize winners, as well as 18 news agencies and seven press freedom organizations, most of them Americans, have joined forces to express their solidarity with their fellow journalists in Palestine and to speak out against US complicity in their deliberate killing.

The high number of journalists killed is part of the shocking death toll. Gaza is one of the most densely populated places on earth and Israel has unleashed a bombing campaign that exceeds the destruction caused by the Allied bombing of Dresden. In the first month of the war alone, Israel dropped explosives on Gaza that were equivalent in tonnage to two atomic bombs. This genocidal bombing campaign has claimed nearly 40,000 lives.

But it is not just Israel's indiscriminate killings that have led to unprecedented murders of journalists. By Israel's own admission, al-Ghoul was a direct target. The Palestinian Journalists Association filed an amicus curiae brief in support of an American lawsuit accusing the Biden administration of violating the Genocide Convention. The brief states: “The evidence clearly indicates that the vast majority of journalists and media workers killed since the genocide began were specifically targeted for murder by the Israeli army.” Al-Jazeera has similarly accused Israel of murdering its journalists. While the scale of Israel's killing of journalists is unprecedented, Israel has a longer history of attacking Palestinian journalists. Israeli snipers were credibly accused of targeting journalists during the 2018 Great March of Return, and independent investigations have found evidence of deliberate killings in 2022 Al-Jazeera Reporter Shireen Abu Alkeh.

Israel's killing of journalists and its other military actions are made possible by US support. The US supplies the weapons and uses its diplomatic and political influence to ensure that Israel is not held accountable when it uses these weapons to violate international law.

“Israel's military actions are not possible without US weapons, US military aid and diplomatic support,” we write. “By supplying the weapons used to deliberately kill journalists, you are complicit in one of the most serious attacks on press freedom of our time.”

The signatories of the letter include some of the most famous and awarded journalists of our time: Laura Poitras, Kai Bird, James Bamford, Spencer Ackerman. Many of the signatories are employees of the nation And JacobinThe journalists are joined by entire editorial teams, including Eye of the Middle East, Current Affairs, Mondoweiss, News about Drop Site, Truth, In these times, Antiwar.comAnd The real newsand press freedom groups such as the Courage Foundation, Defending Rights & Dissent, Roots Action, Project Censored, and Freedom of the Press Foundation. These influential reporters, media outlets, and free speech advocates recognize that Israel's killing of reporters in Gaza who brave endless airstrikes, tanks, and snipers to show the world what is happening is a deliberate attempt to hide its attack on Palestinians from global scrutiny—and thereby shield itself from international accountability.