The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on U.S. and international media to finally speak out against Israel’s intentional targeting of journalists in Gaza after a Palestinian journalist and 10 members of her family were slaughtered in an Israeli air strike.
Israel reportedly bombed the Gaza home of journalist Fatima Hassouneh, killing her and her relatives. Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, questioned “what it takes for other journalists to stand against the slaughter of their colleagues.”
That attack comes as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) says Gaza has become a “mass grave” for Palestinians and those helping them. An investigation by Al Jazeera has also documented Israel’s war crimes in Gaza.
Today, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) condemned Israel’s killings of journalists and called for an immediate investigation into their deaths. IFJ said at least 157 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed by Israel.
CAIR has repeatedly condemned Israel’s targeting of journalists as it attempts to censor news about its genocide in Gaza.
Gaza is the most dangerous place in the world to be a journalist. A report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (IPJ) earlier this year showed that a record number of journalists were killed in 2024, almost two-thirds of them Palestinians who were killed by Israel.
In a statement, CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper said:
“American and international media must speak out about Israel’s murder of Fatima Hassouneh and of so many other Palestinian journalists. Media silence on this issue sends the dangerous message that Palestinian journalists may be murdered at will by the far-right Israeli government as it seeks to eliminate those who tell the world about its crimes against humanity in Gaza.”
He noted that earlier this month, CAIR said U.S. media should show video of journalists being burned alive after an Israeli bombing of a media tent outside a hospital on Gaza.
Yesterday, CAIR condemned the latest Israeli airstrike on a hospital in Gaza, this time targeting the Kuwaiti Field Hospital in Gaza, killing a medic and wounding nine other people.
Washington, D.C., based CAIR recently condemned Israel’s intentional attack on a Christian hospital in Gaza on Palm Sunday. CAIR also called on the Trump administration to condemn the attack.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com