Gaza Repression Sparks Global Freedom of Expression Crisis
A pro-Palestine rally, Oct. 2024. X/ @aamabrur00
October 18, 2024 Hour: 7:50 am
Companies tend in their content moderation to show a bias against Palestinian expression, UN Rapporteur Khan noted.
On Friday, Irene Khan, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, denounced that the repression and discrimination against journalists and human rights defenders in Gaza have led to a global crisis for freedom of expression.
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“Deadly attacks on journalists in Gaza, along with double standards and discrimination against those advocating for Palestinian rights, have created a global crisis of freedom of expression,” she stated, adding that no recent armed conflict has affected this right “so severely or so far beyond its borders” as the Palestinian war.
“Rarely have we seen such widespread patterns of illegal, discriminatory, and disproportionate restrictions on freedom of expression by states and private actors, especially in Western democracies,” Khan stated.
These widespread violations of freedom of expression appear to indicate a deliberate strategy by Israeli authorities to “silence critical information and obstruct the documentation of potential international crimes,” she pointed out.
“International standards are being distorted and misinterpreted to equate criticism of Israeli government policies and Zionism with antisemitism,” the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression warned.
Among the violations stemming from the Gaza conflict, Khan highlighted the suppression of protests against the Israeli genocide worldwide and the intensification of disinformation and hate speech both online and offline.
She also accused universities and cultural institutions in Western countries of collaborating with states to “intimidate, isolate, and silence” dissenting voices about the Palestinian situation, which “undermines their own artistic and academic freedoms and diminishes the vitality of their democracies.”
In light of this situation, Khan urged all states, businesses, and private institutions to “refrain from discrimination and defend freedom of expression” equally for all people, in accordance with international standards.
“Why have States that promote themselves as media freedom champions remained silent in the face of such unprecedented attacks on journalists in the occupied Palestinian Territory?,” she asked.
“The repression of media in Gaza and the West Bank is an attack on the right to information of people around the world who want to know what is happening there,” Khan added, noting that “companies have tended in their content moderation to show a bias against Palestinian expression.”
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE
