CPJ accuses Israel of impunity in attack against journalist in Lebanon one year on

By Rabia Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) – The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) criticized Israel on Thursday for failing to hold anyone accountable a year after the killing of Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and the wounding of six other journalists in a targeted strike in southern Lebanon.

In a report marking the anniversary of the Oct. 13, 2023 attack, CPJ, a US-based press freedom advocacy organization, said that Israel has not even completed a preliminary investigation into what multiple independent probes, including from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, concluded was the deliberate firing of Israeli tank shells at a group of seven journalists.

“In spite of extensive evidence of a war crime, a year on from the attack, Israel has faced zero accountability for the targeting of journalists,” CPJ’s CEO Jodie Ginsberg said in a statement.

“With over two decades of targeted attacks on journalists without any consequences, the Israeli military has been granted license to continue this deadly pattern,” she added.

The Israeli army, in a previous email to CPJ, claimed the shelling was in response to a suspected "terrorist infiltration" and said the incident remained "under review."

The CPJ’s findings are supported by video testimony from AFP video journalist Dylan Collins, a US citizen who was wounded in the attack.

In the video, Collins describes the moment the group of journalists, marked with press insignia and visible to Israeli military positions, was targeted by Israeli tank fire. The second strike, just 37 seconds after the first, left AFP photographer Christina Assi with life-altering injuries, including the amputation of her leg.

“The Israeli military knew we were there from the moment we arrived. We thought that being seen would protect us,” Collins said in the video.

According to the CPJ, at least 128 journalists have been killed since Israel’s war on Gaza began last October, with the vast majority being Palestinian media professionals in Gaza, who were killed by Israeli airstrikes.