Statement by Palestinian and Arab Journalists in Response to Recent Zionist Incitement

Editor’s Note: The following open letter from Palestinian and Arab journalists was published in October, 2022. Mondoweiss occasionally publishes press releases and statements from organizations in an effort to draw attention to overlooked issues.

On October 18, the Thomson Reuters foundation withdrew the Kurt Schork award from Palestinian journalist Shatha Hammad, who is based in the occupied West Bank, following an incitement campaign against her.

Earlier this month, the New York Times dismissed two Palestinian photographers from the besieged Gaza Strip for similar reasons, and others before them in the BBC and Deutsche Welle.

These developments come within a series of targeted attacks on Palestinian journalists working in international organizations, by Zionist lobby groups specialized in surveiling and persecuting Palestinians over what they write and publish.

Such institutions, which operate similarly to Israeli intelligence agencies, aim to discredit Palestinians and prevent them from highlighting Israeli oppression in Palestine. Their strategies are clear: they dig deep into journalists’ social media accounts, chasing after any expressions, statements, or even jokes said in childhood, taking them out of context and weaponizing them. What matters to these institutions is to continue to suffocate what remains of the air not contaminated by their bullets.

They incite against journalists, including for their use of everyday words that form an essential part of the Palestinian and Arab lexicon such as “martyr” and “resistance,” often directly targeting Palestinian national identity and history.

It is known that such meticulous standards do not apply to Israeli journalists. Rather, such attacks are intended to further diminish the credibility of the underdogs in this fight. That is why international institutions like Reuters quickly bend to Zionist pressure, while turning a blind eye to Israeli journalists’ questionable or hateful statements, conflict of interest, and, most importantly, their past or present personal involvement in the material violence committed against Palestinians.

We must end these targeted civil assassinations by standing together and refusing any kind of blackmail. The issue here is not to defend or contextualize specific sentences or expressions. We refuse to be trapped in these kinds of investigations that distract, through fallacies of debate, from the material violence of the Israeli regime.

We stand against oppressive scrutiny, and against the institutions that bolster the silencing of Palestinian journalists. We stand with the journalist Shatha who is known for her professionalism, and our other colleagues who were pursued and persecuted by Zionist institutions.

Accordingly, the journalists below sign on the statement above.