Appeal by Italian Journalists Promoted by the “Justice and Peace in the Middle East Movement”
On the Genocide of the Palestinian People, the Slaughter of Journalists in Gaza, and the Censorship of Press Freedom
APPEAL
In Gaza, more journalists have been killed in the past year and a half than in all the world wars, in Vietnam, the Balkans, and Afghanistan combined.
They were all Palestinian.
This is not collateral damage. It is a premeditated massacre.
It is a targeted attack on the right to report.
On freedom.
On civilization.
Two hundred and thirty colleagues — perhaps more — have been murdered while wearing vests marked “PRESS.”
Killed alongside their families, their children, their dreams, and their hopes for peace.
They paid with their lives for the right — and duty — to serve the public opinion of the entire world.
But now, more than ever, it is our own silence that sends the bill.
Faced with this slaughter, a unanimous outcry of outrage from our newspapers, our television stations, our radios, was to be expected.
But that unanimity never came.
Outrage was largely replaced by silence.
And with it, the distortion of reality, filtered through the talking points of the Israeli army and its government.
Even among us journalists, many remain silent.
Afraid of being labeled, discriminated against, or isolated.
We stay silent not to disturb.
This silence is convenient.
But it is not mute — it speaks.
And it is not free — it costs.
Every unspoken word takes us further from truth and from history.
Every truth omitted makes us complicit.
Complicit in the ongoing slaughter of the Palestinian people.
Complicit in the violation of international law and the most basic human rights.
Complicit in a genocide (otherwise described by UN Secretary-General António Guterres as a “slaughterhouse,” and which the International Court of Justice is set to evaluate under the UN’s 1951 definition).
If we do not speak out now, if we do not take a stand now, what kind of journalism do we think we are defending?
Who will still believe in our profession?
Not the young reporters.
They are watching Gaza.
Watching the journalists who chose to report knowing it might cost them their lives.
And many — too many — have given their lives for it.
Our silence speaks.
And one day it will scream that we betrayed our mission.
That instead of defending the news, we censored it.
That instead of protecting freedom, we abandoned it.
That instead of upholding rights and democracy, we undermined them.
This is why we choose to rebel against this conspiracy of silence,
which suffocates truth and justice, and disarms the conscience.
Let us finally raise our heads!
Pietro Adami, Farid Adly, Vittorio Agnoletto, Sara Agostinelli, Andreina Albano, Massimo Alberizzi, Lucia Annunziata, Dany Aperio Bella, Laura Aprati, Carla Attianese, Ida Baldi, Daniele Barbieri, Andrea Barchiesi, Carlo Bartoli, Laura Silvia Battaglia, Barbara Beccaria, Eva Benelli, Remigio Benni, Davide Bertok, Daniela Bezzi, Daniela Binello, Luciana Borsatti, Marina Boscaino, Giulia Bosetti, Alessandra Briganti, Maddalena Brunasti, Anna Laura Bussa, Fabio Butera, Paolo Butturini, Cristina Caccia, Maurizio Calzolari, Alessandra Cangemi, Andrea Capocci, Fulvia Caprara, Sergio Cararo, Laura Carassai, Gabriele Carletti, Luca Carra, Mari Casalucci, Simone Casavecchia, Francesco Casillo, Claudio Caviglia, Luciano Cerasa, Iain Chambers, Simona Ciaramitaro, Luisa Cordova, Pino Corrias, Raffaella Cosentino, Alessandra Costante, Gianluca Costantini, Riccardo Cucchi, Massimo D’Alema, Federica D’Alessio, Ilaria D’Amico, Simone De La Feld, Eleonora de Nardis, Carmine De Nardo, Daniela De Robert, Tana de Zulueta, Nicoletta Dentico, Roberto Di Sante, Lorenzo Dilena, Claudia Fanti, Tamara Ferrari, Tiziana Ferrario, Antonio Fico, Angelo Figorilli, Gabriele Flamma, Lorenzo Forlani, Francesca Fornario, Ugo Francica Nava, Serena Ganzaroli, Silvia Garambois, Marta Gatti, Cristina Genesin, Valerio Giacoia, Alfonso Gianni, Gianni Giovannetti, Beppe Giulietti, Corrado Giustiniani, Licia Granello, Gabriella Grasso, Anna Invernizzi, Massimo Iondini, Laura Ippoliti, Rula Jebreal, Ludovica Jona, Claudio Andrea Klun, Umberto La Rocca, Raniero La Valle, Alessandra Lancellotti, Roberta Lisi, Francesco Lo Piccolo, Natalia Lombardo, Maria Maggiore, Simona Maggiorelli, Ivano Maiorella, Alessandra Mancuso, Bruno Maran, Massimo Marciano, Claudio Marincola, Maria Teresa Martinengo, Roberto Mastroianni, Angela Mauro, Jacopo Mengarelli, Cristina Merlino, Sebastiano Messina, Riccardo Michelucci, Corradino Mineo, Fabio Morabito, Andrea Morandi, Stefania Moretti, Paolo Mossetti, Karima Moual, Carlo Muscatello, Daniela Musumeci, Alberto Negri, Silvia Neonato, Alberto Nerazzini, Pino Nicotri, Flavio Novara, Matteo Nucci, Raffaele Oriani, Elena Paba, Fabrizio Paladini, Vanna Palumbo, Chiara Paolini, Mariangela Paone, Michele Papagna, Valeria Parrella, Ezio Pasero, Vittorio Pasteris, Ferdinando Pellegrini, Rino Pellino, Guglielmo Pepe, Monica Pietrangeli, Valentina Pinello, Meo Ponte, Cecilia Porro, Nancy Porsia, Cristiana Pulcinelli, Norma Rangeri, Daniela Reggiani, Jacopo Ricca, Francesca Rinaldi, Michele Ruggiero, Guido Ruotolo, Gioia Salvatori, Marco Santopadre, Maria Elena Scandaliato, Barbara Scaramucci, Anna Maria Selini, Paolo Serventi Longhi, Giuliana Sgrena, Lorenza Somogyi Bianchi, Ilaria Sotis, Carola Spadoni, Adriana Spera, Alberto Stabile, Veronica Tarozzi, Giovanna Tatò, Serena Termini, Giulia Torbidoni, Stefano Trasatti, Pablo Trincia, Marco Trovato, Giuliana Valcavi, Matteo Valerio, Filippo Veltri, Lucia Visca, Vincenzo Vita, Roberto Zaccaria, Maria Zegarelli, Raffaello Zordan, Monica Zornetta.
