The Foreign Press Association (FPA), which represents reporters working in the Middle East, today blasted the terrorist group Hamas for threatening and intimidating reporters working in Gaza.
“The FPA protests in the strongest terms the blatant, incessant, forceful and unorthodox methods employed by the Hamas authorities and their representatives against visiting international journalists in Gaza over the past month,” the organization said in a statement. “The international media are not advocacy organisations and cannot be prevented from reporting by means of threats or pressure, thereby denying their readers and viewers an objective picture from the ground.”
In several cases, the group said, “foreign reporters working in Gaza have been harassed, threatened or questioned over stories or information they have reported through their news media or by means of social media.”
It added that “we are also aware that Hamas is trying to put in place a ‘vetting’ procedure that would, in effect, allow for the blacklisting of specific journalists. Such a procedure is vehemently opposed by the FPA.”
On 6 August, World Jewish Congress spokeswoman said: “The reports from journalists testifying to Hamas intimidation are troubling and call into question the veracity of some accounts of the fighting. In addition, the media has not adequately explained why it has not been able to broadcast or print many pictures of Hamas terrorists firing rockets from civilian areas or handling weapons, when thousands of rockets have been fired and weapons used.”
Established in June 1957, the FPA “numbers some 480 members representing TV, radio, photojournalists and print media from 32 countries reaching from Australia to Qatar, Africa to Europe, China to the USA,” according to its website.
