Unmasking the Histadrut: Labor Zionism, Settler Colonialism, and the Silencing of Palestinian Journalists
Host Mimi Rosenberg with co-host Ken Nash exposes the complicity of the Israeli labor federation Histadrut in the apartheid system and the brutal marginalization of Palestinian workers. In a powerful conversation with diasporic Palestinian scholar and labor organizer Sharina Razek, they trace the Histadrut’s history from its settler-colonial foundations to its ongoing role in economic exploitation and suppression. Razek dismantles the myths of labor Zionism, calls for global union solidarity with Palestine, and links the struggle for labor and climate justice. The episode closes with Dr. Ibrahim Rabia of the Palestinian Media Coordination Group, who details the lethal repression of Palestinian journalists and the urgent need for international action to protect press freedom.
00:00 Introduction to the episode and its themes: Zionism, labor, and the silencing of Palestinian journalists
01:07 Sharina Razek introduction: labor organizer, scholar, diasporic Palestinian feminist
02:06 The Histadrut's colonial founding in 1920 and its goal of a racially segregated Jewish labor economy
04:53 Labor Zionism as dual conquest: of land and labor
06:40 Histadrut's role in excluding and sabotaging Palestinian-Jewish labor solidarity
08:51 Attacks on mixed unions and enforcement of Jewish-only employment
10:38 Ongoing marginalization and economic sabotage of Palestinian labor
12:33 Histadrut's shift: economic reliance on Palestinian labor post-1948
14:10 Exploitation in Israel's construction industry and the myth of inclusion
16:45 Wage gaps, precarity, and managerial segregation in "inclusive" labor frameworks
18:50 Judging institutions by material outcomes, not progressive PR
20:10 Global labor's responsibility and the Palestinian call for BDS against the Histadrut
22:23 2011 Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS appeal to break ties with Histadrut
24:37 Image of Histadrut leader posing with a missile amid genocide in Gaza
26:00 Political education and the labor movement’s moral imperative
27:22 Long legacy of Palestinian labor organizing and the 1936 general strike
29:41 Labor resistance from below: lessons from Palestinian and Black radical traditions
31:40 Political trade unionism and the path to grassroots power
32:50 Ties between settler colonialism, environmental destruction, and Palestinian land-based resistance
35:06 Gaza’s poisoned ecology: bombs, emissions, and planetary violence
37:22 Decolonization as necessary for climate justice
38:15 Netanyahu visits Trump: settler power meets imperial patronage
39:50 Urgency for grassroots labor organizing and accountability from below
41:13 Conclusion of Razek segment: BDS as a moral and strategic imperative
42:17 Dr. Ibrahim Rabia: systemic targeting and killing of Palestinian journalists
43:45 Over 220 media workers killed; hundreds more injured or detained since October 2023
45:02 Destruction of media infrastructure in Gaza; collapse of local outlets
46:31 Displacement and lack of infrastructure for reporting
47:20 Censorship through military, settler violence, and AI surveillance
49:00 Settler attacks on journalists in the West Bank; rise of hate campaigns
50:31 International legal frameworks failing to protect Palestinian media
51:46 AI-driven repression and targeting of journalists via social media content
53:05 Rabia's call for accountability, global solidarity, and protection of the press
54:30 Closing statement by Mimi Rosenberg: defending press freedom and truth as resistance
Rough TRANSCRIPT:
It's 7 p. m. I'm Mimi Rosenberg, and with Ken Nash, we build bridges. Today, deliberately silenced, over 220 Palestinian journalists have been killed in what rights groups call
targeted attacks by Israeli forces. Yet their colleagues continue to report, risking everything to keep the truth alive. Stay tuned for this report. First, today we're pulling back the curtain on one of the most powerful institutions in Israel,
the Histadrut. While it represents itself as a champion of workers' rights, the truth tells a very different story. From its founding, the Histodrute has systematically excluded and exploited Palestinian workers, helping to build and sustain a system of apartheid.
It's not just a labor federation, it's a key pillar in the Zionist project that continues to deny Palestinians their basic rights. As to Zionism, it is the ultra-nationalist, religiously exclusive,
settler-colonial project that while it marginalizes Palestinians, it also excludes Jews who do not conform to its ideological or religious framework. That is to say, Zionism is exclusionary as it defines Jewish identity in narrow, state-aligned terms, leaving out Jews who are secular,
anti-nationalist, or critical of Israeli policies. And as a Jew, I reject the idea that my identity is tied to a nation state. My opposition to Zionism stems from a commitment to justice, equality,
and the belief that no group should dominate another. Criticizing a political ideology or state policy is not anti-Semitism. It is a moral stance rooted in Jewish ethical traditions. In this episode of Building Bridges, we ask, why is the global labor movement still silent? And what will it take to hold the Histodroot accountable? Stay with us as we explore why international unions must boycott,
divest from, and sanction this so-called union, a wolf in sheep's clothing, with Sharina Razek. a diasporic Palestinian feminist, scholar,
educator, activist, and labor organizer whose work focuses on the intersections of colonialism, environmental justice, and Palestinian liberation. Sharina, it's so good to have you with us.
Hi, Mimi. Thank you so much for having me on your program today. Well, it is truly an honor. Sharina, can you talk briefly about your exploration of what you call. . .
what we're calling, what is called the Histotroute, Israel's National Trade Union Federation, which has long represented itself as a champion of workers' rights and social justice, yet behind this progressive facade lies a deeply entrenched history of exclusion,
exploitation, and complicity in the systemic oppression of Palestinian workers. So introduce us to the Histotroute. Yes, I think, you know,
whenever I'm talking with folks about the histid route, it's important that what we're doing is actually a deep process of unlearning all of the propaganda and myths and lies and debunking. this image that you sort of built a little bit up for us in your introduction. So, you know,
let's start from the beginning and the origins of the Histodrute, which really begin the early in the century of colonization Palestine has faced under European imperial exploitation and violence. This is an organization that was formed in December 1920. And Haifa by settlers to Palestine, many of them Russian. And something I like to share,
really, when I talk about Zionism and the work we do together and unlearning and debunking the myths around Zionism is using Zionist's own language. to speak about and learn about their intentions. So in the opening resolution of the first history conference, they expressed their goals really clearly by stating that it is the aim of the
United Federation of all the workers and laborers of Palestine note that it's called Palestine at this time still, even by the Zionists, who live by the sweat of their brows without exploiting the toil of others to promote land settlement, to involve itself in all economic and cultural issues affecting labor in Palestine,
and to build a Jewish worker society there. So let's unpack that a little bit later. Note that in this first resolution, the intention to colonize Palestine is very clearly articulated, as is the exclusivity of the organization's intentions in building a Jewish-only workforce.
That means a racially segregated workforce, right? So what would come of this organization is exactly as it intended, a racially segregated colonizing entity that worked to one, conquer and settle more and more Palestinian land at the expense of the indigenous population. Two,
exclude Palestinians entirely from its representational frameworks or actively discriminate against them. And three, stifle the Palestinian economy by replacing the natives with Jewish settlers. Things would shift over time as the Zionist narrative has changed the stories it tells about itself. But I want to emphasize here how deeply enmeshed the history was in the early days
of this colonizing project alongside other organizations like the Jewish National Fund, which still exists and still colonizes more and more Palestinian land. and the Palestine Jewish Colonization Association, or the Jewish Colonization Association, which really,
I mean, it has colonization in its title. So it's important we listen to how Zionists really articulated their intentions at this time. So the origins of the Histodrude. have been structurally designed to serve Jewish labor while excluding Palestinians? Yes, exactly.
And it's important to note here that labor Zionism, of which the history is its fundamental core organization, it's a double-edged sword. So it operates through the conquest of land and the conquest of labor. And as someone who is an educator that works in settler colonial studies and indigenous studies,
we often think about settler colonialism in relationship to land and sometimes land only. But labor has a really important role, as do boycotts, you know, the Jewish only kind of attempt to create an economy totally outside of the reach
of the indigenous population who already had a growing economy. economy, a growing agricultural presence there on the land that was starting to even interact beyond the bounds of Palestine. So, you know,
this political ideology of Zionism and theory and practice maintains that to actualize Zionism. An ethno supremacist colony must be established in Palestine through, again, that double edged sword, the acquisition or theft of land and the creation of a Jewish only,
therefore racially segregated economy. Well, specifically, in what ways has the history, Druid, actively contributed to the economic marginalization and political suppression of
Palestinian workers, both historically and, of course, continue through the immediate time? Yes. So.
. . Historically, it was through exclusion, right? So that's what I'm talking about here and the origins of this, quote unquote, labor federation. So the establishment of its own industries, financial,
construction, transport, service enterprises. and to employ Jewish settlers only and to actively sabotage efforts for joint Palestinian-Jewish organizing and to target and attack and denounce Jews who were actually willing to work with Palestinians and organize with them at the time.
So This organization, the Histodroot, actually worked to break up unions like the Union of Railway, Postal, and Telegraph Workers,
which had a mixed Jewish and Arab-Palestinian membership. And this was happening in tandem with agricultural boycotts as well. So. . . You know,
the history was employing this squads to like intimidate Jewish business owners who would hire Palestinians and also to attack and denounce settlers who were buying even produce from Palestinian farmers. And mind you, the agriculture was the most important economy for Palestinians at the time. And it's really important. And the disruption of their,
you know, emplacedness in the land and their alienation from the land and from labor was so much how settler colonialism operated in those early days and how it continues to operate now. Well, indeed, how it operates now. So how does the Histodrute's role fit into the broader framework of Israeli
apartheid, particularly in the labor sector? This union, and it is a federation, is extremely large and powerful, influential, and has a direct role in the means of production,
the economy. So how exactly does it serve the purpose today? Because there are those who would say, wait a minute, wait a minute. Perhaps that was true at various periods, but the history dude has liberalized, is more inclusive and considerate of Palestinian workers and the like.
So help us understand the history dude and this broader framework of Israeli apartheid and this continuing presentation that's put out to the world community. democratic institution, but certainly it's major institutions that are there for labor. Debunk all of that for us. Yes. So what I mentioned a little bit earlier was,
you know, one of the ways in which the history of subjugated Palestinian workers by trying to create this exclusivity of a Jewish settler only economy or labor force. And it turned out that wasn't a totally tenable plan for labor Zionism because working conditions were hard. You know,
for settlers coming to this foreign land, the climate was different, the understanding of how to grow vegetables, fruits, crops. It just wasn't there. Nor was a sort of like willingness or an attachment to the place that is so much a
part of indigenous Palestinian epistemology and attachiveness to place. So not to mention the cost of labor difference. So. . . There is sort of a shift between,
so the history starts right before the state of Israel is even declared in 1920. Things shift through the Nakba of 1948. The history played a role in this Nakba, in the ongoing Nakba that it continues to deny to this day. But after this mass expulsion of Palestinians trying to manage this influx, this really ethnic cleansing project to try and create a Jewish majority in
Palestine, it still was not tenable to have a Jewish only workforce. So Arab labor, Palestinian labor was more affordable. So sort of against its will, against its earlier logic, Palestinian workers had to be included and
they were explicitly discriminated against in the earlier days. Palestinians inside Israel proper were under martial law until 1966 and had very little, next to no rights as workers or as human beings. And then when, you know, Israel expanded into the rest of Palestine, um, There was a need to continue that expansion.
And so there's a really great article I was reading recently by Cy Engler in the Journal of Palestine Studies, who talks about Hebrew labor without Hebrew workers and focuses explicitly on the construction industry, the current industry. construction industry and its exploitative reliance on Palestinian and a migrant
labor force in one of Israel's most important industries because of how profitable it is. It's one of the largest contributors to the Zionist economy. And because, of course, like I was saying earlier,
Israel is an expanding colony and construction is necessary to further displace, dispossess and consolidate the settler colony by settling more and more confiscated land. So, He is talking about in this article, this highly lauded 2010 collective agreement that was signed and boasted about
because of its inclusion of non-citizen Palestinians, so workers from the West Bank and Gaza at the time, into the representational frameworks of the union. And while this may be the case on paper, Englert shows how in practice this could not be further from how things play out in reality.
How through this, if you actually chart the wages, the wage differentials between Israeli Jewish workers, Palestinian workers, the different roles that migrant and Palestinian workers hold versus Israelis who end up in managerial positions while Palestinian migrant workers end up doing
menial labor and also the number of work incidents, the danger of and precarity that this exploited workforce faces. And I think this really is the case for how, should be how we judge all Zionist institutions, policy,
history, actions, it should be based on the material consequences and the outcomes and not on the propaganda of which that collective agreement and the sort of boasting about its quote unquote equality was framed. Sharina, you are, I've described you are a writer, a scholar, and you are a feminist.
You have looked at the issue of ecocide, and I hope we have a little bit of time to talk about that, and the issue of of the land base and its significance in the Palestinian liberation struggle. But the fact of the matter is that you are as well, and you are an activist,
and you are active with labor organizations here. What should be the relationship, what should be the concern of international labor groups relevant to the Hista Drut, which you describe as an exclusionary that has helped solidify an apartheid structure when Israel is not doing worse,
which is actually destroying, annihilating, eliminating the Palestinian culture, people, presence, state.
So what is the issue for Labour here, who has long revelled in and. . . expounded on the democracy and wonders of the Israeli history. Educate us, agitate us, and organize us around that question. As a Palestinian labor organizer,
feminist scholar, and just person who grew up in the far diaspora, it's always my job to platform my people in my homeland and how they are articulating and communicating to us what they need. And Palestinians have long been doing that. So in 2011,
Palestinian trade unions came together and they formed the Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS. That's Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions. And there was a major appeal that was made that came out of this conference, this gathering of feminists, of laborers,
workers, teachers, educators, postal workers, etc. And it was very clear, clearly articulated back in 2011.
You know, this is. . . Five or six years after the initial boycott, divestment and sanctions movement launched from Palestinian civil society, the workers mobilized and organized and spoke directly to us as workers and trade
unionists in the global north and outside of Palestine. and asked us to break ties with the Histidrut, to see through their manipulative lies, their self-presentation as a trade union when really this is fundamentally an engine of colonization. And at this point,
an engine of blatant genocide as we rage beyond 600 days of an extermination campaign in Gaza that the Histidrut supports. There's a photo that I've used in other educational spaces of the chairman of the history, Arnon Bar David, holding onto a missile,
an Elbit Systems missile that was being sent to continue this annihilation campaign in Gaza, smiling with a message that said something like, greetings from the history and the workers in Israel to be dropped from So when we listen to Palestinian trade unionists, they're asking us to do several things,
right? an important thing is the political education that we're doing now. And thank you to the listeners for tuning into this and coming along this journey of unlearning, right? To think about why is Palestine a labor issue?
But most explicitly, they're asking for us to recognize the history has always played a key role in perpetuating Israel's occupation, colonization, and apartheid in Palestine. by publicly supporting Israel's violations of manifold UN resolutions and the
fourth Geneva Convention. The history maintains commercial ties and profits from Israel's illegal settlement enterprise that has created this chokehold over the West Bank and allows and enables Jewish settlers to further occupy stolen land in the West Bank. More recently, especially in these last two years of genocides,
the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unionists have spoken directly to us, directly to American trade unionists, first in October, again in May on the eve of International Workers' Day, and have asked and called on us to do everything we can to intervene in the flows of
political and social and financial capital from the U S to Israel. That is really like the lifeline for this colonizing enterprise to continue and to recognize our power as grassroots organizers and workers, the power we have to intervene. Right. And to break ties with this racist,
preposterous, quote unquote, labor federation, the history route, and to pressure our own government to end military aid to Israel. At this juncture, can you point to particular
and educate us as to some of the history of Palestinians, which you've referenced, but Palestinians organizing labor, having a long history. of organized labor, and in fact being the instructors of the different groups of Jews that came from
the diaspora, not from a nation, from the diaspora. a religiosity, a cultural experience, and came to Israel. So help us understand more about the nature and the sophistication of Palestinian labor as well as we have a tendency to be nurtured in chauvinism and think,
ah, you know. . . The Israelis made a thousand flowers bloom in the desert. It was a land without a people for a people without a land and all the rest.
And what do they know about labor organizing? So again, educate, agitate, and organize us. Absolutely. Thank you for bringing up this point. It's also something I like to talk about when I'm, you know,
I was an organizer in my graduate worker union, was president for two years. I helped us win our unionization efforts and campaign. And it was really important to us from the beginning to be an anti-racist, feminist, labor internationalist union.
And so very quickly, we took up the issue of Palestinian liberation. And I remember really, and I still really make great efforts to make this point, that we have so much to learn from Palestinian labor organization. I mean, actually. .
. And during, in 1936, there was a massive revolt of Palestinian Falahian, the peasant workers, that started with the announcement of a general strike that remains to this day to
be one of the longest holdouts or strikes in human history that lasted a period of like six months. revolt and a strike that the history who participated in scabbing by sending Jewish workers to take up the posts of Palestinian workers and help the British colonists try and suppress that revolt. So,
you know, when I think labor, not on this show, I would I assume and I know, but sometimes labor gets sort of whitewashed. So what I like to do is to present a perspective on labor from below and to
highlight and platform how Palestinians have used their organized labor as one. of among many forms of resistance, but how brilliant Palestinians to this day can call a general strike with the flip of a switch. It's a level of solidarity and organization that is hard to imagine. And,
you know, from the United States of America, which is probably one of the least strike ready countries you can imagine. But I also like to tie it to the history and perspective of labor from below, because when I organize as a labor activist, I do so with the Palestinian general strike of 1936,
this revolt in mind. And also. . . From the perspective of W. E.
B. Du Bois, who really helped us unlearn the narratives of emancipation this country tells itself and helps us to realize that actually slavery was ended by the enslaved going on strike. on mass and liberating themselves.
So that's the perspective on labor that I want us to really connect with and to understand the power of grassroots mobilization. I really feel like for. . . Most of us,
that's really the only power we have is this unity and this willingness to organize together. And since we're talking about political trade unionism, political trade unionism, political trade unionism as a platform, as a launching pad for the working class to assume state power,
And that's really what we're trying to grapple with on building bridges. And as we continue to speak with Sharina Razek, one of the things that I just want to bring in a little bit about, we will have you back to continue this discussion, but you've done extensive looks at connecting the Palestinian struggle. with global issues like climate justice and decolonization,
arguing that the environment is deeply tied to liberation. Can you give us a sense of Palestinians' resistance to Israeli colonialism, as you have through organized labor, but with its relationship with nature, the Palestinian struggle with global issues such as climate justice and decolonization,
which you've looked a great deal at. Yes, thank you for that question. It's all so deeply connected, and I think we're seeing how the disregard with which Settlers treat the land they occupy to destroy the infrastructures of life, to destroy and poison the earth. Of course,
we always, as we should, center the human casualties, the unbearable losses that we're facing of human life. But this is also a destruction of a livable place in the Gaza Strip.
This is a poisoning of the earth. And I am part of a group of decolonial environmental humanities scholars that want to really tether and think about how the climate catastrophe we're facing is so much a part of the imperial world order and the disregard with which settler colonial states and entities are treat the land.
The amount of emissions that have been released into our shared or differentially shared atmosphere with the dropping of tons and tons of bombs on Gaza is something that we breathe even here in the U. S. So there can be, you know,
on the one hand, there can be no climate justice without decolonization and vice versa. So that's what my work is really grappling with as well, and how Palestinian women filmmakers and artists are trying to recuperate a different sort of relationality with the land that's not exploitative. That same exploitation that we see in the treatment of the land is mirrored in the
treatment of the people. We're going to look at this issue further in the near future. But I want to give you an opportunity to give us your thoughts on, Sharina, Netanyahu's visit to Trump today. How do you see this moment rolling?
reinforcing or reshaping the structures of settler colonialism you critique, particularly in relationship to U. S. imperial support and the role of institutions, indeed, like the Histidude. And how should this inform the urgency and direction of BDS strategies moving forward? That's a lot to grapple with,
but we must get to that activist component, and we can't be remiss in ignoring the visit of Netanyahu, which frankly should have resulted in an arrest warrant. Yes. I mean, I think it's a reminder. .
. as these criminals meet in their criminal institutions and the criminal complicit media reports on it and has the audacity to even report on it in this sort of optimistic tone. I mean, Israel's had a ceasefire with Lebanon that it's just violated over and over again. We have to take these meetings,
these political stunts as a reminder to us as activists, as labor organizers, as workers that If we're going to stop this genocidal war machine, which is operating in the US also, it's not going to come from above.
It's going to have to come from us below. And so I am part of the Labor for Palestine National Network. I am an organizer in higher education. Just like with the uprisings of Palestinians in 1936, we have to mobilize and really speak to each other and figure out how are we going to hold it down.
I think on the grassroots level, it's like, look at your own workplace. In higher ed, we have a specific battle. But we all have a battle when it comes to holding our workplaces, our employers, the countries where we have citizenship, where we belong to,
where we work accountable, because they're not going to do it by themselves. They're going to continue doing these political stunts and games while the colonized, racialized, gendered,
disabled, impoverished working class suffers. So I take this Netanyahu visit as a reminder of just how little we should invest in the outcomes of those kinds of conversations and just keep turning it back to it's on us. We are personally responsible in the outcomes of this political moment and this climate moment.
And we have to really start acting like it. You know, I misspoke when I said there should be the issuance of an arrest warrant. There should be the execution of the arrest warrant. Well, Sharina Rasek, as you've made clear, the history, Jude, is not just a labor federation. It's a pillar of settler colonial infrastructure. To stand in solidarity with Palestinian workers means refusing complicity.
It means boycotting institutions that uphold apartheid. It means divesting from systems of oppression. And it means sanctioning injustice. Wherever it hides, BDS isn't just a tactic. It's a moral imperative. Sharina, thanks for, again, educating, agitating, and organizing us for a free, free Palestine.
In Sharina Razek's vision, resistance is not only political, it's elemental. Her work reminds us that the land, the air, the water, and the fire are not just backdrops to struggle, but active forces in the fight for justice.
That's where we leave you today, at the edge of the earth where survival itself becomes a form of defiance. Sharina Razek, thank you for the work you do. Do come back and visit us more, more often. Thank you so much, Mimi. And again,
we've been speaking with the wonderful Sharina Rasek, and we're saying VDS, no to Histotrude, up, up with liberation, up,
up with Palestine. We're going to take a momentary break and get ready for looking at the issue of Palestinian journalists on the front lines. But first, some thoughts from the British singer Loki. What's up? Fall asleep.
Fall asleep. We'll be right back. We have to stand and stare And a little boy Begs for his brother's strand of hair Truth is I don't know how Anyone can live After digging for their dead kids Buried under bricks Israel is a terror state Terrorists that terrorize I testify My television televised I'm telling lies This is not a war It is systematic genocide
But whatever they try Palestine will never die Palestine They're not prepared to face the pain So they're scared to say your name Palestine I'm Amy Rosenberg. This is Building Bridges. Ibrahim Rabia speaks to us now on behalf of the Palestinian Media Coordination Group. It's imperative that in the face of systemic censorship and the targeted killing of
Palestinian journalists, acts that not only silence truth but erase lives, that international advocates for press freedom and human rights mobilize legal, legislative, and political rights, to ensure the Palestinian liberation struggle is told in full, unflinching truth.
The voices of those risking everything to report it must be amplified, safeguarded, and never forgotten. Dr. Ibrahim Rabia is the manager of the Palestinian Media Coordination Group and an assistant professor of political science and international relations at
at Birzit University. He served as editor-in-chief of Al-Hayat newspaper and editor-in-chief of the journal Palestinian Affairs. He's a scholar, writer, political analyst,
whose work focuses on Palestinian politics, settler colonialism, political economy, and the intersection of sports and resistance. Thank you. analyzing the destruction of Palestinian academic institutions and,
beyond the game, the politics of Palestinian football, exploring how sports have been used as a form of political resistance. Rabbi Yeh sent me the political message you're about to hear amidst the killing of Palestinian journalists, now more than 200 journalists.
targeted for death by the Israeli state. Let's listen. Thank you for this opportunity. And when we talk about the Palestinian media, actually I can say that we are passing a very, very difficult time.
I am Ibrahim Rabiaq. I am the director of the Palestinian Media Coordination Group, which includes the Palestinian Journalist Syndicate, the Publishers Association, and the Radio Stations Association, besides the Palestinian Media Development Center.
Since October 8th of 2023, we lost around 226 media workers in Gaza and the West Bank. And actually, this is the most difficult period for the Palestinian media ever. Even we had a very, very difficult violations before, and every year we recorded in our media institutions and mainly the Palestinian Journal Syndicate violations and thousands of violations against Palestinian media.
Most of these colleagues were killed by a systematic targeting in Gaza Strip. And the Palestinian journalist syndicate, the BGS, recorded evidences about this, about this systematic targeting in Gaza. Also around 440 were injured.
Some lost their lamps and it is difficult to deal with their injuries in Gaza due to the collapse in health sector. The BGS worked with international partners, international institutions to send several outside, but this became impossible since the collapse of the last ceasefire. Around 47 journalists remain in detention now.
And this is out of 80, the BGS recorded by last May. Most are under administrative detention with no charge. And we talk about this component mainly. This is where the censorship, where is the restrictions on media. Most of these colleagues are from the West Bank and most were arrested due to their media work,
their maybe products, media products, and also their activities on social media platforms. So when we talk about the administrative detention, this is what is the situation since October 8th, 2023,
and mainly based on the opinion. Due to the Israeli restrictions, the military restrictions mainly, which is targeting the journalists themselves, the media outlets, by preventing specific outlets from working in the West Bank,
in Gaza, in Syria. Israel, for example, we talk about Al Jazeera and also preventing international media from entering Gaza Strip and also with more restrictions on the West Bank these days.
The BGS have reported also unprecedented rates of torture and humiliation against the colleagues who were arrested in this period. We talk also about the sector itself, the media sector itself in Gaza. Now the media sector in Gaza is completely destroyed. We lost around 82% of our media outlets in Gaza.
And for example, the publishers and the radio stations, their early estimated losses are around $125 million. This included institutions, buildings, instruments, equipment, everything. Also, the displacement forced media workers to move from the north,
where 85% of the media outlets were concentrated, to the south, where there is no infrastructure. So we established, and mainly the PGS, with the UNESCO and the international community, Federation, the IFJ, they established the solidarity centers. It is a place where is the basic needs of journalists available to work there.
These places even are not safe because there is monitors, censorship for the media production, which comes from Gaza and even from the West Bank. Also, the PGS worked on supporting the journalists themselves. We are talking about around 4,000 members supported by personal leads. This is their priorities, including tents, including food, and what they need to do.
in this very difficult situation. Also, we are talking about the situation in the West Bank. The situation in the West Bank is more complicated because we have two kinds of maybe censorship. The first is is the military by the Israeli forces, by the Israeli military institutions.
And this is maybe dynamic. They change everything. And they put some legal framework which can be. . . Maybe translated or clarified in several ways.
So they have this kind of wide legal framework to use it as they want. So there is no clear restrictions for the Palestinian journalist. The second is the informal censorship, which comes from the settlers and their institutions, their platforms. And the hate speech comes against journalists in name mainly.
And we recorded in the Palestinian media institutions several cases by attacking and targeting Palestinian people. Journalists in the recent was attacking Assam Rimawi. Assam Rimawi is one of the prominent photographers here in Palestine. And he was covering settlers attack against one of the villages around Ramallah. And they know him because they shared his photo.
And there is a head speech against him. So when they saw him, they targeted him and they broke his head. He was in the ICU, in the hospital for a week. And this was one of the recent and difficult cases. Assam said. .
. He has never witnessed such kind of violations, such kind of systematic targeting. He's covering the situation in the West Bank for the last 20 years at least, but he's saying there is kind of escalation. and unprecedented escalation against Palestinian journalists in the West Bank. This is not the only case and not the only situation.
There was a targeting for journalists in several areas in the West Bank, such as Jamin and Tul Karim, in different occasions. You know, there is Israeli operation against Jenin since last January. And there was systematic targeting for specific journalists there, preventing journalists from entering specific areas such as Jenin camp,
Tul Karim camp, North Shams camp, and also arresting journalists there in the field for hours or days. also we are talking about as I said Al Jazeera before preventing the journals there in Al Jazeera from working in the field not only the media outlet itself also the workers but as I said now we are talking about the AI era so there is a systematic
maybe a kind of censorship for the Palestinian journalists and the content by AI. And for the last weeks, the spokesman of the Israeli army was talking about 3000 recorded cases based on the social media, maybe content for Palestinians, including journalists,
for them, for the Israeli army. And each time they come to the house of the journalist and arrest him from his house, no worry, where is
in area A, B, C, in any city. So they reach anywhere in the West Bank, in Gaza now, and a list of Palestinian journalists. Also, there was reports about using AI for the systematic targeting, and I think Human Rights Watch recorded this before. They talk about Lavender, AI app, and other apps to
maybe reach intellectuals and several maybe activists in Gaza, including journalists. And this kind of systematic targeting, as I said, the PGS recorded. There is high rates now for the Palestinian journalists of maybe fears, fears from the protection. They need protection. They need support, international support.
They need code of ethics and more pressure on the Israeli authorities to maybe implement the international efforts laws, the international maybe codes of protecting journalists in such situation in the West Bank and Gaza. Thank you.
Ibrahim Rabia with the Palestinian Media Development Fund. The killing of Palestinian journalists is not only a crime against individuals, it is a crime against truth, accountability, and the right to witness. These deaths are not inevitable.
They are the result of impunity, silence and the failure of the international community to act. If we value press freedom, we must do more than mourn. We must intervene. We must demand protection. accountability, and justice. Because every journalist killed is not just a loss for Palestine,
it is a failure of our collective responsibility to defend the truth. How many, how many more must die before the world listens? I'm Mimi Rosenberg for Building Bridges, and with Ken Nash we say educate, agitate, and organize,
and for press freedom for our siblings in Palestine, in Gaza, for a free, free Palestine. Thanks for listening. WBAI's local station board,
the Pacifica Foundation Board responsible for local management and operations, is holding its next regular meeting on Wednesday, July 9th at 7 p. m. The meeting will include reports to the LSB by station management and WBAI's representatives on the Pacifica National Board.
So join us Wednesday, July 9th at 7 p. m. The meeting will be held through the Zoom remote meeting service. The LSB meeting, accessible to the public, includes an opportunity for public comment. The fastest and easiest way to join the meeting is by using the link on the Pacifica calendar at jpftx.
org and on the WVAI website. You can also access the meeting by calling 929-205-6099. That's 929-205-6099. And enter this meeting ID, 922-457-2995.
Meeting ID again. 922-457-2995. And if that's not enough numbers, we also have a password. The password is 995, like WBAI's frequency.
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