Archive May 2, 2025

In response to Israel’s occupation of Gaza, Palestine has become the most dangerous state for journalists in the world, according to a media freedom watchdog. Numerous reporters are likely to have been killed specifically as a result of their work.

Reporters Without Borders released its World Press Freedom Index 2025 on Friday, reporting that nearly 200 journalists were killed by Israeli forces during the first 18 months of the conflict, with at least 42 of those killed while carrying out their duties.

The Paris-based organization, which is also known by its French acronym RSF, claimed that journalists in Gaza are trapped in the enclave and are without food and water.

Journalists are frequently harassed and attacked by Israeli and settlers in the West Bank, according to Repression, which grew even more so after the 7th of October, when impunity for crimes against journalists was a new law.

Hamas and the Islamic Jihad also hampered journalists’ careers, according to RSF, while a Palestinian Authority law restricts freedom of expression and press freedom, as stated in its report.

Palestine ranked 163rd in the most recent index for press freedom, down 6 places from 2024.

According to the report, 112 out of 180 jurisdictions saw a decline in press freedom, with the average global score dropping to a record low of 55 points.

The watchdog accuses US President Donald Trump of overseeing a “troubling decline in press freedom,” dropping two places to a record-breaking 57.

After campaigning repeatedly and denigrating the press against the media, President Donald Trump was elected to a second term, according to RSF.

His first moves in his second term, such as his decision to politicize the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), remove The Associated Press from the White House, or abolish the US Agency for Global Media, have threatened the nation’s news outlets and indicate that he intends to follow through with his threats, provoking a potential crisis in American journalism.

Reporters Without Borders points to growing restrictions on press freedom, media plurality, and editorial independence since the start of the conflict in Gaza, dropping Israel 11 places to 112th.

Only journalists who work for Channel 14 have been given access to interviews with the nation’s leader, who accuses the Israeli press of conspiring against him, according to the organization.

The Minister of Communication demanded in 2024 that the government boycott Haaretz, one of the few newspapers that attacked Netanyahu’s policies, including the Gaza massacre, a subject that was largely suppressed.

Eritrea placed just behind China and North Korea in the rankings.

After accusing Syria’s president of failing to protect its Druze minority from sectarian violence, Israel’s military launched air strikes close to the presidential palace in Damascus.

The attack, which occurred early on Friday, was Israel’s second of its kind this week, and it is thought to send a strong message to Syria’s transitional government led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Shortly after the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz shared a message to the Syrian regime: “We will not allow]Syrian forces to deploy south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community.”

This week saw more than 100 fatalities in Syria’s conflict between pro-government forces and Druze fighters.

Syria’s Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, who demanded an immediate response from “international forces to maintain peace and prevent the continuation of these crimes,” has labeled the violence as a “genocidal campaign.”

Gideon Saar, Israel’s foreign minister, urged the international community to “fulfil its role in protecting the minorities in Syria, particularly the Druze, from the regime and its gangs of terror,” on Thursday.

Israel has increased its support for the Druze minority this week and has previously described Syria’s transitional government as a “terror group from Idlib that took Damascus by force.”

The Druze minority, who were allies of Israel for many years, is a descendant of a branch of Shia Islam from the 10th century and resides primarily in Syria, Lebanon, and Israel.

Asaad al-Shaibani, the foreign minister of Syria, called for “national unity” on Thursday as “the solid foundation for any process of stability or revival.”

He wrote on X that “any call for external intervention, under any pretext or slogan, only leads to further division and division.”

The government of al-Sharaa, who led a coalition of rebel groups to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December, faces one of the most pressing issues ever as a result of the sectarian violence.

Since then, there has been sectarian violence in Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that more than 1, 700 civilians from the Alawite community were killed in March by security forces and allies.

The Alawites, who have traditionally settled in western Syria close to the Mediterranean coast, belong to the same ethnic group as al-Assad.