The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS), on Friday, denounced the latest serious Israeli attack on a journalist in the southern West Bank, The Palestinian News and Info Agency reported.

Photo-journalist Moath Amarneh lost sight in the left eye after being seriously injured by a rubber-coated steel bullet, fired by an Israeli soldier. Amarneh was covering a protest against land confiscation, in the Surif region of the Hebron governorate. He was rushed to the hospital in Hebron for emergency treatment.

In a statement, the PJS condemned the attack, describing it as “a deliberate targeting by the Israeli army of a colleague wearing a bullet-proof vest marked PRESS.”

It also called on “international institutions to act quickly to stop this violence against the press in Palestine.”

Anthony Bellanger, IFJ General Secretary, said: “Once again, the IFJ deplores the attacks on Palestinian journalists by the Israeli military. The IFJ recalls that international law applies everywhere and that no government is above it.”

Bellanger further stated, “It is now time for the United Nations General Assembly to adopt the Convention for the Protection and Safety of Journalists, so that the impunity enjoyed by predators of press freedom and democracy can end in Israel as elsewhere.”

Photo Credit: Palestinian Journalists Syndicate
Edited for IMEMC: Ali Salam

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