Washington - "Jerusalem" dot com - Saeed Erekat - In a detailed interview conducted by "Truthout" website with legal expert and international relations Richard Falk, published by the website on Wednesday, January 11, 2023, the distinguished expert spoke about the increasing difficulty facing Palestinian journalists In covering the Palestinian issue not only in occupied Palestine, but also in the United States and other countries that are trying to obliterate the flagrant violations of Palestinian human rights at the hands of the Israeli occupation authorities.

The site notes that journalists covering Palestine witnessed a very difficult and horrifying scene in 2022, "which was a year filled with human rights violations, censorship, arrests and outright killings."

In the interview, Falk asserts, "The killing of Palestinian-American journalist Sherine Abu Aqleh last year is a stark reminder of human rights issues and the ongoing transparency of Palestinian journalists." Falk also refers to the deportation of French-Palestinian human rights lawyer Salah Hammouri (who was condemned by Amnesty International) and the temporary ban On Twitter, Palestinian journalist Saeed Erekat (and, more recently, human rights lawyer and law professor Noura Erekat) were further attempts to marginalize Palestinian voices.

Falk points out that while Palestinian journalists are killed or imprisoned by Israel, the American media voluntarily refrain from criticizing Israel.

In the interview, Falk details the case of "corporate journalism" (press owned by media giants) and comments on the broader set of trends that threaten democracy at its core. Despite this, there is a growing awareness of the plight of the Palestinians.

Here are some of the questions that journalist Daniel Falcone directed to legal expert Richard Falk:

Danielle Falcone: Interest in Palestinian affairs and politics, as well as support for the Muhamasheen and their human rights, seems to be growing and gaining strength in 2022. However, encroachments on the freedom and security of journalists covering such matters cannot be seen as a major setback. Can you explain this apparent contradiction?

Richard Falk: Israel, and especially Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has long recognized that exposing Israel's abuses poses a greater threat to Israel's security and expansionist plans than armed struggle. The unexpected collapse of the apartheid regime in South Africa in the 1990s confirmed this perception, and at the same time should ignite the spirit of struggle among the opponents of the Israeli apartheid state so that a successful liberation strategy can be achieved through the mobilization of global militant solidarity initiatives linked to international institutions, law and institutions, as well as promoting civil society boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaigns.

On the Palestinian side, the means of the Palestinian struggle must be diversified, as the Palestinian liberation strategy is weak on many levels due to the intense oppression and obstacles of the giant anti-Palestinian machines.

It is in this atmosphere that Palestinian journalists play a crucial role in reporting what is happening to the world and attempt to report on the daily hardships of a people suffering from long-term oppression coupled with the dispossession of their homeland. Therefore, they are increasingly seen as a serious threat to the dominant actor, which is focused on violence, including murder. Transparency regarding repressive policies is unbearable, and brave independent journalists expose what government representatives refuse to say if it offends the prevailing geopolitical order. The premeditated murder of Shereen Abu Aqleh, Al Jazeera correspondent on Palestinian events in recent years, despite being an American citizen, is revealed in May 2022 revealed Israel's willingness to accept a major setback (in the field of public relations) and in its global public image to silence a voice like Shirin's voice and intimidate others.

Can you comment more on how Palestinian journalists, [or non-Palestinian journalists] always face an uphill battle reporting on the region, and especially the challenges they face when navigating controversial stories?

Falk: By seeking to report on the realities of the occupation and the discriminatory features of Israeli apartheid, Palestinian journalists face harassment, imprisonment, and sometimes murder. It is no coincidence that some of the most critical comments on Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights come from dissident Jewish journalists such as Gideon Levy and Amira Hass.

This tolerance of vitriol from within the Jewish camp protects [Israeli human rights organization] B'Tselem from the kind of repression that responsible Palestinian NGOs, including Right and Conscience, face in their endeavor to continue their fully peaceful and professional work, along with civil society activities. In other words, in order to maintain the superficial credibility of being a democracy based on racial superiority, Jewish journalists in Israel or occupied Palestine are allowed the freedom to express the Palestinians in their homeland. Whether those freedoms are at risk now given the rise to ruling power of the far right in the form of the Religious Zionist coalition is one of many doubts about how far Netanyahu's newly formed, settler-oriented government will go in enforcing what might be called "ideological loyalty" at home. Even against Jews, especially with journalists and scientists who are seen as hostile.

Gideon Levy noted in my presence that he cannot write critically about Israel's mistake in the United States and does not expect access to any influential media platform. In other words, the Diaspora Jewish establishment is more protective of Israel's reputation, reserving harsh slanderous criticism of Jews like me who are rebuked as "anti-Semites" or "self-hating Jews" for seeking to report Israeli wrongdoing. More recently, when influential NGOs, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, issued long reports documenting the apartheid features of Israeli rule, they were not given respect for being subjected to pro-Israel criticism, but mostly dealt with through a press version of "the cure." The Silent One can hardly hope for the operations of an independent press. While Palestinian journalists are killed and imprisoned when they come under Israeli authority, criticism of Israeli behavior is always filtered out, and often blocked, in North America and Western Europe through a superficial, voluntary process of self-censorship and a culture of silence that most of them respect. Publishers and journalists for commercial or professional reasons.

Truthout: Against this background, what are your general thoughts on Twitter's ban on Palestinian (al-Quds) journalist Saeed Erekat and his reporting?

Twitter's suspension of Saeed Erekat's account is another attempt to stifle Palestinian grievances and prevent them from angering US government officials and leveraging social media platforms to convey their version of events and controversial Israeli behavior to a wider audience. Erekat is a soft-spoken Palestinian journalist well known in Washington, respected by colleagues for his ethic and direct questions about Israel/Palestine at press briefings at the US State Department and elsewhere where journalists seek explanations on public policy. This broad effort by leading social media platforms to allow hate speech and fascist messages, but to deny access to those deemed highly sympathetic to the Palestinian struggle for basic rights, is flawed in the quality of democratic practice. It is particularly unfortunate in the digital age, especially with reference to issues that the American public was supposed to have a right to know about. After all, $38 billion in taxpayer revenue has been pledged to Israel over 10 years, much of it used for counter-insurgency and police programs aimed at suppressing Palestinians' rights to resist.

The plight of the Palestinian press is not confined to the territories under direct Israeli control, but through this punitive measure aimed at appeasing Erekat's influence abroad extends to the United States and many other countries. Such facts make a mockery of Biden's claims about leading an alliance of democracies against governments headed by autocrats.