Forbidden Stories: 'Journalism is so crucial during conflict: War crimes can multiply with impunity'

FRANCE 24 English

Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00The killing this week in the Gaza Strip of a freelance journalist working for Al Jazeera

00:05brings to 173 the number of reporters killed since Israel's invasion in late 2023.

00:14Israel which refuses to let foreign reporters into Gaza.

00:19With us Laurent Richart, co-founder of the investigative

00:23unit Forbidden Stories.

00:24Thanks for being with us.

00:25Thank you for having me.

00:26And you've been working on this issue of the targeting of journalists.

00:30Yeah, it's an entire team with 12 news organizations coordinated by Forbidden Stories where

00:37the goal was to investigate how some journalists were targeted by the Israeli army.

00:42So not just collateral damage but actually targeted.

00:45Yeah, actually we see a kind of pattern from the Israeli army in the way journalists lost

00:52their life.

00:53Some of them have been killed by drones as others were killed by some snipers.

01:00And so for some of those cases we were investigating in what kind of condition specifically they

01:09were killed.

01:10And what we are revealing today that we are revealing for instance the case of Fadi Al

01:16was in reporting from an area where the combat was not supposed to happen.

01:23It was not in what we call the evacuation area, evacuation zone.

01:28And he was shot and now he's paralyzed.

01:32And so we investigate using modelization, using 3D, using open source investigation,

01:39using satellite pictures, drone pictures.

01:41And we were able to identify from where the shooting happened and a series of elements

01:50and evidences convincing and we can tell with a high degree of confidence that it was really

01:57targeted.

01:58He was really targeted and you're saying there's lots of instances of that among those 173.

02:04Yeah, what we see as well that it's a global war against access to information.

02:10You can see journalists being targeted but as well the newsroom being targeted.

02:15You can see as well some shutdown where you don't have any kind of access to information.

02:20You can see as well how some journalists using drones have been systematically targeted as

02:25well.

02:26You can see as well many tactics to prevent to be sued by international criminal court

02:34as well from the Ministry of Justice of Israel.

02:37So it's a global way from the government of Israel not to be prosecuted in that kind

02:44of war crimes.

02:45So what is the Israeli government telling you when it comes to A, not letting in foreign

02:51reporters?

02:52B, the rules of engagement when it comes to things like drones?

02:56And C, the accusation that they're actually actively targeting journalists?

03:03On the point C they say, yeah, this is fake.

03:07We are not targeting journalists.

03:10And what we can see as well that every time a journalist is killed by the Israeli army

03:14they will immediately say publicly that that journalist was a terrorist.

03:19But without really providing evidence to support that kind of claims.

03:24And we have seen that many times.

03:27That's a kind of pattern.

03:29On the fact that they don't want foreign reporters to come, they explain that for safety

03:34reasons and because of the war they don't want to see any kind of other civilians entering

03:40the area.

03:41So this is why we need a kind of collaboration like that with many newsrooms involved.

03:49Not only from abroad but as well we were working with some journalists in Palestine.

03:55We were collecting a lot of witnesses from the ground.

03:59And what have been some of the reactions internationally?

04:04Well, as you know, the situation globally is that there is a war in Ukraine.

04:10There is a war in Gaza.

04:11There are many things happening in the U.S.

04:15So what we can see that there is a high level of impunity globally when we talk about crimes

04:21committed against reporters.

04:23When it goes to the Gaza situation, more than 170 journalists have been killed since

04:29October 23.

04:30And the level of accountability is extremely low.

04:33We don't have any kind of answer or investigation.

04:37So the international reaction is sometimes strong.

04:43It depends country by country.

04:45But as a journalist, and I'm leading an organization of journalists, the thing we need is to go

04:51on the field and to be able to report from the field for the public interest.

04:56The journalists are survivors among the survivors here.

04:59They are here to tell the stories of what is happening.

05:03They try to use their drone to show the damages of the war.

05:09And if you don't have any kind of witnesses, if you don't have any kind of journalists

05:12in a war, in a conflict, then there is a big risk that you can see a lot of war crimes

05:18being multiplied with impunity.

05:20And this is why journalism is so crucial in a period of conflict.

05:25Laurent Richard, your report is available on the Forbidden Stories website.

05:30Many thanks for being with us here on France 24.

05:33Thank you so much.

Category

Transcript

Recommended