Dutch newspapers join protest against Israel targeting journalists in Gaza
Several Dutch newspapers are participating in a global protest on Monday against the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) targeting and killing journalists in Gaza. Over 200 news organizations worldwide have joined the action organized by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Avaaz, and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). Activists are also calling on everyone in the Netherlands to walk out of their workspace, classroom, or lecture hall at noon on Monday in protest against the situation in the Gaza Strip.
NRC published its newspaper on Monday with a blacked-out front page reading only: “Without reporters, the image from Gaza goes black.” Inside the newspaper: “With the blacked-out front page and website today, NRC, along with countless other media outlets worldwide and the organization Reporters Without Borders, emphasizes that journalists in Gaza must be able to work safely. Furthermore, international journalists must have free access to the area.”
De Volkskrant filled its front page with photos of journalists killed in Gaza. The newspaper dedicated multiple pages to them. AD and Parool published interviews with the Palestinian photo and video journalist, Mohamed Hannawi. The Netherlands-based World Press Photo also joined the protest.
According to the organizers of the protest, at least 210 journalists have been killed since the start of the war in Gaza, making it the deadliest conflict for reporters in recent history. “At the rate at which journalists are being killed in Gaza by the IDF, soon there will be no one left to keep the world informed,” RFS director Thibaut Bruttin said in a joint statement. “Journalists are being killed, they are being targeted, they are being defamed. Without them, who will speak of famine, who will expose war crimes, who will denounce genocides?”
“Every journalist killed in Gaza was someone’s colleague, friend, or family. They risked everything to tell the world the truth, and they paid with their lives. The public's right to know has been deeply damaged as a result of this war. We demand justice,” said Anthony Bellanger, general secretary of the IFJ.
Free Press Unlimited is also participating in the protest, welcoming politicians back to work in The Hague on Monday after the summer recess with signs depicting murdered Palestinian journalists. The NGO advocating for press freedom wants the government to take action against Israel’s war crimes.
According to Free Press Unlimited, Israel is conducting a “systematic smear campaign” to portray Palestinian journalists as Hamas members. This not only undermines “the credibility of independent reporting from Gaza,” but also “lowers the threshold for violence against journalists by portraying them as legitimate military targets,” the organization told ANP. It urged media outlets worldwide to handle allegations against journalists in Gaza with “great care.”
Activists are also calling on Netherlands residents to protest against Israel’s continued attacks on and starvation of the Gaza Strip by stopping their work or studies when the air raid sirens sound at noon. The activists encourage people to wear red and bang pots and pans outside in solidarity with the Palestinians, and post images of their protest under the hashtag #wijwerkenhiernietaanmee.
