TRADE unionists from across Bristol heard about the terrible death toll afflicting journalists in Gaza from SW England NUJ – and the NUJ’s efforts to hold Israel to account.
SWE branch chair Paul Breeden told a gathering for International Workers Memorial Day that the NUJ is pressing the International Criminal Court to speed up its investigations into the deaths of scores of journalists in Gaza.
He told the gathering in Bristol’s Castle Park that 171 journalists are confirmed as killed in Gaza by the NUJ’s international partner, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).
The death toll is almost certainly higher, but the IFJ is careful to corroborate its figures before publishing them, he said.
Four Israeli journalists were killed in the Hamas attacks on October 23, 2023, and one retired Israeli journalist, Oded Lifschitz, died while a Hamas hostage. One Syrian and nine Lebanese journalists have also died in the conflict.
Every death is a tragedy and is weighed equally by the NUJ. But the death toll among Gaza journalists is unprecedented in human history, said Paul, and makes journalism probably the deadliest profession of all in Gaza, one of the most dangerous places in the world.
Evidence that journalists are targeted by Israel is mounting, and the ICC has been investigating since the apparently deliberate killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in 2022.
Targeted killings are a war crime, said Paul, while explaining that journalists often do not report deaths in Gaza as “war crimes” such because no court has yet determined the cause.
The commemoration for workers killed and injured while at work is held in towns and cities across the UK on April 28th by members of local trades councils, representing many trade unions.
The Bristol gathering also heard Nick Seymour of law firm Thompsons talk about the ongoing efforts to win redress for the many victims of workplace asbestos, a substance that was declared to be safe for decades even though the manufacturers knew it was dangerous.
Steve Preddy, regional secretary of Unite, highlighted the continuing death toll on building sites and farmyards.
And Tim Northcott from GMB spoke about the deaths of four workers in an explosion at a Wessex Water plant in Avonmouth in 2020 – for which no one has yet been prosecuted.