11th May 2022, Center for Defending Freedom of Journalists (CDFJ) emphasized that the assassination of the Palestinian Reporter with Aljazeera Media Network Sherine Abu Aqleh is a new crime to be added to the Israeli occupation’s crimes record.
CDFJ said in a statement that Israeli’s deliberate targeting of media aims to terrorize journalists and to discourage them from practicing their work, which exposes them and their daily crimes against the Palestinian people.
The Center described Palestinian media professionals as “witnesses of the truth,” stressing that persecuting them, restricting their work, and targeting them will not deter them or prevent them from continuing their noble mission of exposing the crimes of the Israeli occupation.
CDFJ called on the international community to not let the assassination of colleague Abu Aqleh go unpunished, pointing out the importance of ending the impunity of perpetrators.
The Center offered its sincere condolences to the martyr’s family and to Palestinian journalists, expressing its wishes for a speedy recovery to Aljazeera Journalist Ali Samoudi, who was also shot and wounded in the back during the Israeli occupation’s raid.
CDFJ urged human rights organizations in Palestine and everywhere in the world to prosecute Israel for the war crimes it has committed and is committing in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
CDFJ noted that the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, in cooperation with the International Federation of Journalists, filed an official complaint about the systematic targeting of Palestinian journalists in April 2022, adding that the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court officially announced that it had received the complaint on April 25, which may lead to an official investigation and prosecution of the Israeli security services for war crimes against journalists.