RSF and 59 other organisations call on EU to suspend Association Agreement with Israel
In response to the unprecedented number of journalists killed and other repeated press freedom violations by the Israeli authorities since the start of the war with Hamas, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and 59 other organisations are calling on the European Union to suspend its Association Agreement with Israel and to adopt targeted sanctions against those responsible.
RSF and the 59 other organisations have called for these urgent measures in a joint letter addressed to the European Union as its foreign ministers prepare to meet in Brussels on 29 August.
Carried out in contravention of Israel’s human rights and international humanitarian law obligations, the killings and other media freedom violations should trigger the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement and further EU targeted sanctions against those responsible, the letter says.
“It is time to move from verbal condemnations to action. Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement stipulates that their relations are based on an essential component, which is respect for human rights and democratic principles. The Israeli government is clearly trampling on this article. The EU, which is Israel’s leading trade partner, must draw the necessary conclusions from this and must do everything to ensure that the Netanyahu government stops massacring journalists and respects the right to information and press freedom by opening media access to Gaza. The credibility of the EU is at stake.
RSF and the 59 other organisations that signed the letter also urge EU leaders to unequivocally and publicly call on Israel to meet the following press freedom demands:
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Provide access and uphold the freedom to report
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Protect the lives of journalists
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Ensure accountability and end impunity
More than 130 Palestinian journalists and media professionals have been killed by the Israeli armed forces in Gaza since 7 October. At least 30 of them were killed in the course of their work, three Lebanese journalists and an Israeli journalist have also been during the same period, which has been the deadliest for journalists in decades. The organisations that signed the letter point out that the targeted or indiscriminate killing of journalists, whether committed deliberately or recklessly, is a war crime.
The killings of journalists have been compounded by a total ban on independent media access to Gaza (except for a few reporters embedded with the Israeli military); a record number of arbitrary detentions of media personnel; allegations of journalists being tortured and mistreated; censorship and egregious restrictions on media freedom; and a failure to investigate or hold the perpetrators of violations to account.
Read the joint letter
