Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate warns against any planned attack by occupation forces on journalists aboard the Global Steadfastness Fleet

The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate has called on the United Nations and UNESCO to provide urgent international protection for journalists aboard the flotilla carrying dozens of journalists on ships bound for Gaza. The flotilla includes many journalists and media professionals from around the world who are on a humanitarian and media mission to document the suffering of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

The syndicate said this cowardly assault on the flotilla, its storming and the threat to the lives of journalists and all those on board, including senior media figures, reflects a blatant violation of international law, press freedom and human rights. It constitutes a clear attempt at a brutal attack on freedom of expression and media coverage, directly endangering journalists’ lives, and amounts to a fully constituted war crime against journalists.

It added that the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate is following developments around the clock and calls on all journalists’ unions, international human rights organizations and media outlets to monitor expected developments in the coming hours, to cover the crime of storming the ships of the “Global Steadfastness” flotilla, and to expose the occupation’s crimes.

The syndicate considers the arrest or assault of journalists to be part of a planned pattern of crimes against journalists, and part of the occupation’s decision to prevent international journalists from covering what it described as the genocidal war being waged by the occupation against our Palestinian people.
The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate affirmed its full solidarity with all journalists and called on the international community, rights and humanitarian organizations and UNESCO to take immediate action to stop this violation and to ensure protection for journalists while they carry out their noble mission.