Journalist
JournalistFlash 90

IDF forces handling a demonstration near Shechem allegedly attacked two foreign journalists, according to a report in the British Guardian.

The report claims that the soldiers hit two reporters from Agence France-Presse and broke their equipment, all without provocation. The reports are named as Andrea Bernardi and Abbas Momani.

The AFP bureau chief stated that "But the soldiers came and at this moment took the stills camera and took everything in the photographer’s pocket – batteries, memory cards. Andrea then came back to recover his destroyed camera. At this point a soldier jumped on him and put a pistol on his face and attacked him."

MK Nachman Shai (Zionist Union), a former journalist and a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, is calling on Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon (Likud) to order an immediate investigation into the incident.

"Regardless of the circumstances of the event, I can't imagine that IDF soldiers would attack members of the media," MK Shai wrote to Ya'alon. "The media's role is to be in every place at all times. It is an inseparable part of reality. Destroying cameras and beatings teach journalists that soldiers and their commanders have not internalized the basic values of democracy, especially the freedom of expression."

He continued, "I ask you to order an immediate investigation by the military police and long-term programs for soldiers and commanders in order to instill them with the basic values of democracy and ensure that this behavior does not happen again."