The Committee to Protect Journalists has found Israel is one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists following the October 7 start of the Israel-Gaza war.
Israel ranked sixth – tied with Iran – in the CPJ annual prison census for 2023 which documented the second highest number of imprisoned journalists since the census began in 1992.
The CPJ documented 320 journalists behind bars on the census date of December 1, 2023, in what it called “a disturbing barometer of entrenched authoritarianism and the vitriol of governments determined to smother independent voices”.
Israel has appeared previously on the CPJ’s annual census but this is the highest number of arrests of Palestinian journalists since CPJ began documenting arrests and the first time Israel has ranked among the top six offenders – behind China, Myanmar, Belarus, Russia, and Vietnam.
All those known to be held by Israel as of the December 1 census date were arrested in the Palestinian territory of the occupied West Bank after the start of the Israel-Gaza war on October 7. Most are held in administrative detention, which allows Israeli authorities to hold detainees without charge on the grounds that they suspect the detainee of planning to commit a future offence.
