Groups Tell Biden To Urge Israel To Allow Media Access To Gaza
Defending Rights & Dissent and 18 other press freedom and human rights organizations endorsed a call from 64 members of Congress asking the Biden Administration to urge Israel to allow independent access to Gaza for U.S. and international journalists, in the interest of transparency, accountability, and press freedom. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) led the congressional effort.
Read our letter to President Biden and Sec. of State Blinken here and below.
International media and press freedom groups have called on Israel to allow media into Gaza, but, as a press release from McGoverns office notes:
… foreign media remains largely prohibited from entering the region, except for a few controlled trips arranged by the Israeli military. This effective ban on foreign reporting has placed an overwhelming burden on local journalists who are documenting the war they are living through.