https://arab.news/8ne9m
- Appeal issued due to administration’s involvement in Israel’s actions in Gaza
LONDON: Palestinian journalists are urging their US counterparts to boycott the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner over the Biden administration’s involvement in Israel’s actions in Gaza.
The appeal, which has been endorsed by 25 Palestinian journalists from Gaza and from other countries, was officially issued on Tuesday after endorsement campaigns lasting a couple of weeks.
The letter said: “As Palestinian journalists, we urgently appeal to you, our colleagues globally, with a demand for immediate and unwavering action against the Biden administration’s ongoing complicity in the systematic slaughter and persecution of journalists in Gaza.
“For Palestinian journalists in Gaza, the blue press vest does not offer us protection, but rather functions as a red target.”
Media watchdogs have reported that at least 97 journalists and media workers have been among the more than 34,000 killed since the conflict began on Oct. 7.
Many others are missing or being detained by the Israeli military “for merely fulfilling our journalistic duties.”
Some 25 journalists have signed the letter, although some have chosen to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation by the Israeli army.
The letter includes signatures from renowned Gaza-based journalists such as Bisan Owda and photojournalists Mohamed Almasri, Ali Jadallah, Hosam Salem, and Mohammed Zaanoun.
The appeal has also been supported by the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate and Palestinian reporters working outside Gaza, including Mariam Barghouti, Mohammed El-Kurd, and Said Arikat, the Washington bureau chief for Al-Quds newspaper.
The letter criticizes the annual event — scheduled for April 27 — as an attempt by the US administration to manipulate the media by sacrificing journalistic ethics for access.
The letter added: “For journalists to fraternize at an event with President Biden and Vice President Harris would be to normalize, sanitize, and whitewash the administration’s role in genocide.
“The press plays an integral role in standing up against injustice by illuminating the truth and holding power to account.
“Journalists in Gaza cannot continue to bear the burden of doing so alone. It is past time journalists take action for journalists in Gaza.”
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