Politics Foreign Press Association accuses Israel of attacking press freedom
An international press association has accused the Israeli army of forcibly preventing a team from the US broadcaster CNN from working in the occupied West Bank. "This is a violent attack on clearly identified journalists and a direct attack on press freedom," said the Foreign Press Association (FPA). The journalists had wanted to document the consequences of an attack by Israeli settlers and the establishment of an illegal outpost when they were forcibly detained. CNN shows a video of the incident.
29.03.2026, 07:22
SDA
Israeli military spokesman Nadav Shoshani wrote on Platform X that the soldiers' behavior did not reflect the attitude of the Israeli army. The case is being investigated. He had apologized "privately".
CNN journalist Jeremy Diamond wrote on X that Israeli soldiers had attacked a photojournalist and detained his team. The two-hour detention revealed a lot about the motives of these Israeli soldiers: "They are acting in the service of the settler movement."
FPA: Journalist put in a chokehold
According to the FPA, the journalists had clearly identified themselves. However, the soldiers had repeatedly tried to prevent the recordings by threatening to confiscate the camera. Later, a soldier had put a CNN journalist in a chokehold, thrown him to the ground and damaged his camera. Pointing guns at journalists and civilians, physically assaulting a cameraman and detaining a team are acts that cross every line, the journalists' association wrote.
"This was not a misunderstanding. It was not the first time that soldiers have mistreated journalists in the West Bank," the FPA continued. It condemns this incident in the strongest possible terms and calls for an immediate and transparent investigation.
Increase in Israeli settler violence
Since the beginning of the Gaza war two and a half years ago, there has also been a significant increase in violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and their property in the West Bank. The Israeli security forces are repeatedly accused of not taking decisive enough action against this or even siding with the aggressive settlers.
Israel conquered the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War. Today, around 700,000 Israeli settlers live there in the midst of three million Palestinians. The Palestinians claim the territories for their own state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
