Cape Town journalists protest against Israel for killing Palestinian reporters

Hundreds of people, including many journalists, marched on the Sea Point Promenade in Cape Town on Sunday, protesting against Israel’s killing of journalists.

This comes after Israel killed six media workers at the al-Shifa hospital precinct in Gaza City on 10 August. Four were Al Jazeera staff.

Since 7 October 2023, Israel has killed over 190 journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). When counting all media workers, the number increases to over 270. The march follows a vigil held outside the Al Jazeera offices in Johannesburg on 14 August.

Organised by Journalist Against Apartheid, protesters demanded that media organisations denounce Israel’s actions as a “war crime”, Israel release all detained Palestinian journalists in the West Bank and Gaza and an end to Israeli restrictions on media access to Gaza. 

Protesters also criticised publications whose journalists took sponsored media trips to Israel, calling it an attempt to “whitewash Israeli crimes”.

In April and May, Biznews, Sunday Times and The Citizen published articles by journalists who had travelled to Israel. They did not declare that their trips had been sponsored by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies.

Sunday Times and The Citizen have subsequently apologised for not declaring this, after complaints were lodged against them with the Press Council.

Biznews is not a Press Council member, but it did amend its article to indicate the Board of Deputies sponsored the trip.

“We condemn South African media organisations who have undertaken sponsored propaganda trips to Israel and published this propaganda without declaring how these trips were funded. This falls far short of journalism ethics, and is shameful in a country where the media’s bravery was central to dismantling apartheid,” said a press statement by Jews Against Apartheid.

Hundreds of people participated in the march.

“Since when has journalism become a crime?” said Journalist Crystal Orderson during her speech. She said her colleagues in Gaza are being killed for “trying to tell the story to the world of a genocide”. She called for solidarity and said newsrooms across South Africa could not be silent.

“There is nothing random about what Israel is doing,” said Sharif Mosa, a Palestinian journalist living in South Africa. He said Israel’s violence was “calculated” and that colonialism requires the extermination of the people and “control of the narrative”.

Palestine Solidarity Campaign, South African Jews for Palestine and Gift of the Givers also supported the protest.

Palestinian flags waved by protesters at the Sea Point promenade.