On Sunday, July 13, 2025, a group of Israeli settlers attacked a CNN crew working near the village of Sinjil. Their car was heavily damaged, its rear window smashed by one of the assailants. 

This is the second settler attack on foreign journalists in Sinjil this month: On July 4, a Deutsche Welle team was chased by settlers while filming. A window of DW’s car was smashed with stones, and its bodywork dented. 

In each of these incidents, settlers struck in broad daylight. Yet so far, we are unaware of any arrests being made.

This is taking place at a time when our Palestinian colleagues routinely face threats, intimidation and violence at the hands of settlers and security forces, while the foreign press is routinely vilified by some Israeli public figures.

At the same time, the Israeli army and government block journalists from entering refugee camps in the northern West Bank from which tens of thousands of Palestinians have been expelled in recent months. These phenomena have led to a worrying and rapid shrinking of the space and freedom to report on Palestinian lives.

We call on Israeli authorities to uphold the country’s stated commitment to freedom of the press by ensuring the safety of journalists and prosecuting, not protecting, their assailants.

Statement attributed to the board of The Foreign Press Association