www.commondreams.org Israeli Soldiers Violently Assault Palestinian Journalist Live on CNN Jake JohnsonDec 15, 2023 3 - 4 minutes

Israeli soldiers on Friday brutally assaulted a Palestinian photojournalist as he tried to work in occupied East Jerusalem, violence that was broadcast live by CNN's Turkish affiliate.

Footage of the incident shows Israeli soldiers shoving, yelling at, and eventually battering Anadolu Agency's Mustafa Alkharouf, who was trying to cover the scene as Palestinians gathered near the Al-Aqsa Mosque to pray. The Netanyahu government has imposed tight restrictions on prayer at the Muslim holy site during Israel's bombardment and invasion of the Gaza Strip.

At one point in the footage, an Israeli soldier looks as though he is going to shoot the journalist with his assault rifle, but instead uses the gun to hit him in the face. Subsequently, a soldier throws Alkharouf on the ground while another kicks him repeatedly in the head and torso.

According to Haaretz journalist Nir Hasson, an Israeli officer asked Alkharouf and other journalists to leave a certain location and, when they attempted to comply, their path was blocked by another officer, who began assaulting Alkharouf. The Israeli soldiers also attacked cameraman Faiz Abu Ramila, who was accompanying Alkharouf.

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Anthony Bellanger, secretary-general of the International Federation of Journalists, condemned the "violent and aggressive" assault and said he's trying to coordinate assistance for Alkharouf, who was hospitalized.

"I watched the video and Mustafa in particular was only doing his job and nothing else," Bellanger told Anadolu.

Alkharouf is one of dozens of journalists who have been attacked by Israeli forces since October 7. In late October, Reporters Without Borders filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court accusing Israeli forces of committing war crimes against Palestinian reporters.

"Israel does not want any journalists they cannot control and censor to witness their mass killing campaign in Gaza," The Intercept's Jeremy Scahill wrote Friday, "so they are systematically killing the Palestinian journalists who are the eyes and ears of the world, reporting from this Israeli-enforced killing cage."

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists' (CPJ) latest count, at least 63 journalists and media workers have been killed in the occupied Palestinian territories, Israel, and Lebanon since early October, with Palestinian journalists making up the overwhelming majority of the death toll.

"CPJ is also investigating numerous unconfirmed reports of other journalists being killed, missing, detained, hurt, or threatened, and of damage to media offices and journalists' homes," the group says on its website.

On Friday, Al Jazeera journalists Wael al-Dahdouh and Samer Abu Daqqa were wounded in a reported Israeli strike on a school in Khan Younis, southern Gaza's largest city.

In response, Reporters Without Borders denounced "these endless attacks on journalists who continue to report the news" and demanded "the protection of reporters."