Hi everyone. If you haven’t already, please check out this week’s episode about Jeremy Loffredo, who holds the unique title of being the only American journalist to ever be arrested by Israel. His arrest was recent — last October — and his story has not been extensively told, or well-understood. Our executive producer Robyn Semien got a lot of access to Jeremy; she spent days interviewing him and the others he was traveling with when his ordeal began; she interviewed his attorney, famed human rights attorney Lea Tsemel; she's reviewed court transcripts and the reporting of Jeremy’s that led up to his arrest. It’s a gripping story that you have not heard anywhere else and we’re telling it in two episodes — this week is part one, and we’ll be back on Jan 30th with part two. 

It’s a poignant time to be releasing this story, as Israel and Hamas are, apparently, about to begin a long-awaited ceasefire this weekend. The loss of life and overall degradation of humanity, in what experts and human rights groups have deemed a genocidal conflict, is unbearable, I find. Since Question Everything is a show about journalism, I’ve also been reflecting on the damage Israel has inflicted on journalists, and journalism, since October 7th, 2023 — and particularly on Palestinian journalists. 

Just this week, on the day we put out our episode, the Committee to Protect Journalists published the latest edition of what they call their “prison census”, which accounts for all journalists incarcerated worldwide as of 12:01 AM on December 1st, 2024. They found that jailings of journalists neared a record high in 2024 and that Israel is now number two on the list of countries with the most journalists imprisoned because of their work, behind only China. 

Take a moment to let that set in: Before Oct 7th, 2023, Israel rarely appeared on the prison census. Now it’s number two in the world, with 43 journalists in jail. According to CPJ, all of them are Palestinian.

That’s jailing. CPJ also released a report this week on journalist casualties in the region since Oct 7th. As of today, CPJ has found at least 166 journalists and media workers who have been killed since the conflict began, the vast majority of them Palestinian. (It’s worth noting that Al-Jazeera has found a higher casualty count.) This statistic has made this period the deadliest for journalists since CPJ began collecting data, 33 years ago.

These journalists’ lives aren’t “collateral damage.” In its investigations, CPJ has found that at least 13 of these journalists and media workers were directly targeted by Israeli forces. CPJ classifies these deaths as murders. They’re researching at least 20 other cases that indicate targeting as well. 

Our podcast is about the challenges facing journalists. In the last year-plus, Israel, which touts itself as the only democracy in the Middle East and America’s closest ally there, has been killing and jailing journalists at record levels. That means less accountability, less dissent, less truth-seeking. And most of all more human tragedy — with fewer journalists out there to tell us about it.

Brian

P.S. Jeremy Loffredo’s editor — the founder of the outlet he works for, The Grayzone — also made news this week, when he confronted Secretary of State Antony Blinken about his legacy in Gaza at Blinken’s final press conference. Jeremy’s editor was then removed from the briefing room (as was another journalist who was asking Blinken tough questions). You can watch the video here.