GENEVA - Online attacks and unfounded accusations by the Israeli army against Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al-Sharif are a blatant attempt to endanger his life and silence his reporting on the genocide in Gaza, a UN expert said today.
"I am deeply alarmed by repeated threats and accusations of the Israeli army against Anas Al-Sharif, the last surviving journalist of Al Jazeera in northern Gaza," said Irene Khan, the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression.
"Fears for Al-Sharif's safety are well-founded as there is growing evidence that journalists in Gaza have been targeted and killed by the Israeli army on the basis of unsubstantiated claims that they were Hamas terrorists," Khan said.
She expressed deep concern that, without any evidence to back its claims, the Israeli army has repeatedly accused Al Sharif and other Palestinian journalists of being terrorists or supporters of Hamas.
"On the one hand, Israel refuses to allow any international journalists to enter Gaza, and on the other, it ruthlessly smears, threatens, obstructs, targets and kills the few local journalists remaining as the only eyes of the outside world on the ongoing genocide," the expert said.
"Killings, attacks, arbitrary detention and harassment of Palestinian journalists and the destruction of press facilities and equipment in Gaza and the West Bank are part of a deliberate strategy of Israel to suppress the truth, obstruct the documentation of international crimes and bury any possibility of future accountability," the Special Rapporteur said.
She stressed that, as famine unfolds in Gaza and starving women and children are killed for seeking humanitarian aid, it is more important than ever to protect courageous journalists like Al-Sharif, whose reports on the grim realities of genocide can shame the world into action.
"I call on all States, especially those who pride themselves on being champions of media freedom and safety for journalists, not to remain silent in the face of this blatant assault on journalists," Khan said. "I urge them to use their diplomatic channels to stop Israel from targeting Anas Al-Shar and other journalists in Gaza who are only doing their job of telling the truth to the world."
The expert is in contact with the Israeli Government on this matter.
