NUJ Leeds and West Yorkshire branch members read out the names of 234 journalists and media workers killed in Gaza since October 2023 at a vigil held in solidarity with fallen colleagues.
During an event outside Leeds Arts Gallery on Monday September 1, members mourned those who have lost their lives in Gaza while providing coverage for news organisations whose journalists are prevented by Israel from entering the territory.
August has seen a huge number of casualties among journalists in Gaza, with the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) reporting at least 233 journalists and media workers killed since October 7, 2023.
The vigil attended by more than 50 people in Leeds saw a minute’s silence and a reading by branch co-chair Georgina Morris of the poem A Night in Al-Hamra by Saadi Youssef. A wreath was laid at the Workers Memorial.
As the names of 234 fallen journalists were read out by NUJ branch members, volunteers held posters with their names and faces on. These included the 233 listed by the IFJ as well as that of Sumaya Abed Rabou, a freelance journalist killed alongside her brother in an attack last month.
Event organiser Adonis Storr, Student Liaison Officer for NUJ Leeds and West Yorkshire, said in a speech that by reading the names of the fallen journalists “we honour their journalism…we stand together in solidarity with them…and we keep their stories alive”.
He told the story of Mariam Abu Daqqa, a Palestinian freelance photojournalist, killed in a targeted Israeli double-tap strike on Nasser Hospital on August 25.
In a video message recorded earlier this year for the outside world, Mariam said: “The Israeli occupation target journalists because they convey the truth and images for the outside world. The Israeli occupation doesn’t want anyone to report.
“It doesn’t want the outside world to know what’s happening to us. From targeting and killing children, to genocide. So it targets journalists, to ensure it only spreads videos from its side, not from both sides.”
In his speech, Adonis highlighted the well-known saying about journalism that “it is not our job to echo a disagreement about the weather, but to open the window and tell the public if it is raining”.
He added: “No international journalists have been allowed unfettered access to the Gaza Strip since the war began. But our colleagues there have been doing their jobs.
“Their photographs, videos and reports are indescribably precious. They are the only evidence we have of what is happening. Our colleagues in Gaza have looked out of their windows, and shown us it is raining bombs, on hospitals, on journalists, on a starving population.”
MP: Journalists have unique and vital role – they must be protected
NUJ members across the UK and Ireland have been holding similar vigils, including one outside Downing Street in London on Wednesday August 27.
The union has called on the UK government, which claims to be committed to press freedom, to exert serious pressure to protect journalists, uphold international law and support an investigation by the International Criminal Court into the blatant targeting of journalists and media workers by Israeli forces.
In a message of support for the vigil, Leeds East MP Richard Burgon said Israel “has run a deliberate campaign of targeting journalists — a campaign to stop the world from seeing the full horrors it is inflicting”.
He added: “But we have already seen enough. We have witnessed some of the most horrific scenes imaginable — often captured bravely by the very journalists Israel has then killed.
“Directing attacks against journalists and other protected persons is a war crime. So those responsible for killing hundreds of journalists in Gaza must face justice in The Hague.”
Other West Yorkshire Labour MPs sent their apologies, including Naz Shah, Jon Trickett and Alex Sobel, while Leeds South MP Hilary Benn said the killing of journalists “should be of deep concern to us all”.
He added: “Their unique and vital role is to bear witness to what is happening around the world, and that is why they should be protected in doing their job.”
- Read more about the vigils and protests being organised by NUJ branches across the union.
- Make a donation to the International Federation of Journalists’ Safety Fund.