Arab News Japan

TOKYO: The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan has issued a statement following the death of Asahi newspaper correspondent Mohammad Mansour.

The statement read: “The FCCJ condemns the killing of journalist Mohammad Mansour, a correspondent for The Asahi Shimbun, by an Israeli missile on March 24. Mansour’s wife and child were also reportedly hurt in the attack, which Al Jazeera and other media outlets claim was deliberate. Mansour had been injured in a previous attack by Israeli Defense Forces but continued to report from Gaza.”

The Club pointed to figures issued by the Committee to Protest Journalists that showed at least 173 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel, and Lebanon since the Israel-Gaza war began following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

According to the CPJ, “This makes it the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992 and one of the deadliest conflicts for journalists in modern history.”

The CPJ says that at least 11 journalists were “directly targeted by Israeli forces in killings which CPJ classifies as murders”. At least 20 other cases indicate “possible targeting”. 

In 2023, the FCCJ gave its Freedom of the Press Asia Award to veteran journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot dead in the West Bank in 2022. The IDF initially blamed Palestinian gunmen but independent probes by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and several media organizations concluded she was killed by Israeli soldiers, almost certainly deliberately.

In addition, AP and other news outlets have reported that Israeli settlers beat and badly injured one of the Palestinian co-directors of the Oscar-winning documentary film “No Other Land” in the West Bank. The filmmaker, Hamdan Ballal, was subsequently arrested by the Israeli military, according to several witnesses.

“We join our sister organization, the Foreign Press Association, and many others in calling for the IDF ‘to ensure the safety and freedom of reporting of our Palestinian members on the ground in Gaza, who are reporting the news despite extremely dangerous circumstances.’ The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan supports repeated calls by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urging the United Nations Security Council to enforce its Resolution 2222 on the protection of journalists in Gaza.”

Resolution 2222 requires that measures be taken to protect “journalists, media professionals, and associated personnel” in the field.