Question 553 — foreign policy

Summary

Ms. Sophie Taillé-Polian alerts the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs to the critical situation of the press and freedom of information in Palestine. The closure of the Al Jazeera office in Ramallah on Sunday September 22, 2024 by the Israeli armed forces is yet another obstacle to the work of journalists in Palestine. In the West Bank, for years, media professionals have been prevented from carrying out their profession in safety, taken targeted by the Israeli armed forces. Palestine is one of the bottom ten countries where journalists are the least safe to practice their profession. Violations against press freedom committed by Israeli forces are not new, as evidenced by the assassination of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in 2022 while reporting. These pressures and obstacles to journalism have been accentuated since October 7, 2023 in the occupied Palestinian territories and in Gaza. Indeed, Israel targets journalists in the Palestinian enclave: the bombings have caused the deaths of nearly 150 journalists. Several of them believe they were specifically targeted while wearing identifiable blue “Press” vests while carrying out their missions in the field, in refugee camps, in hospitals. but also in their homes and in their cars. Thus, the International Criminal Court includes in its investigation the crimes committed against journalists in Gaza. Gaza continues to be closed to international media despite calls from Reporters Without Borders to open the borders to journalists who wish to enter and leave. Several journalists, unions and collectives have denounced in several forums the climate of terror which reigns over Palestinian journalists and recalled that the targeting of journalists constitutes a war crime. These deadly attacks and, more broadly, these restrictions are a large-scale attack on freedom of the press and expression. This pattern of impunity must urgently end. She therefore wishes to know to what extent France intends to act after almost a year of massacres to uphold international law, guarantee independent and pluralistic information on developments in the conflict, prevent these war crimes and guarantee safe and immediate shelter for Palestinian journalists and their families.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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