Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) plans to hold a press conference on Dec. 11 calling for the Israeli government to be held accountable for what he said is its “systematic targeting of members of the press since Oct. 7, 2023.”
The senator intends to make that point alongside Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.), the Committee to Protect Journalists, Amnesty International USA and Dylan Collins, a Vermonter who works for Agence France-Presse.
Welch stated that he will, “for the first time,” share his office’s correspondence with the U.S. and Israeli governments “on the status of its probe into the attack on his constituent, U.S. citizen and AFP video journalist Dylan Collins.”
The senator alleges that Collins was hurt in what he called an Israeli “double-tap” attack in southern Lebanon on Oct. 13, 2023, in which he said that Collins was part of “a group of seven journalists clearly identifiable as members of the press.”
A Reuters videographer was killed and an AFP photographer was “gravely wounded, resulting in the amputation of her right leg,” Welch said.
Kurt Schwartz, CEO of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis, told JNS that “Israel’s usual detractors have again rushed to cursory conclusions of Israeli guilt.”
“Again, they’ve done so without taking into account the realities of war, or seriously grappling with the key issue of ‘intent,’” Schwartz said. “Reuters has admitted it did not alert the IDF of its presence at that location, one kilometer from a hot border between Lebanon and Israel.”
The CAMERA chief executive added that “other journalists have reported that the IDF had discouraged reporters from operating near the border.”
“The incident in question not only happened just days after the Oct. 8 attack, but at a time of intense exchanges of fire, suspected infiltrations into Israel and deadly Hezbollah attacks along that area of the border,” he said.
“Broader accusations that Israel targets journalists in Gaza have often counted non-journalists, Hamas-employed propagandists and even hostage-holders as purported journalists,” he added. “Mistakes happen in war. Even tragic mistakes do not justify the rush to predetermined verdicts, whether by journalists, politicians or anti-Israel NGOs.”
