Israel’s targeting of journalists: Congress members, CPJ, AI to hold press conference on 11th

WASHINGTON: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Amnesty International USA join US Senators Peter Welch (D-VT), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and US Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT-At Large) to demand accountability for Israel’s systematic targeting of the press since October 7, 2023.

For the first time, Senator Welch will share findings from his office’s engagement with the governments of Israel and the United States on the status of its probe into the attack on his constituent, US citizen and Agence France-Presse (AFP) video journalist Dylan Collins, who will also join the press conference. The press conference will be held on December 11, 2025 at US Capitol Grounds, Senate Swamp.

Collins was wounded in the October 13, 2023, double-tap Israeli attack in southern Lebanon on a group of seven journalists clearly identifiable as members of the press. Reuters video journalist Issam Abdallah was killed in the first strike and AFP photojournalist Christina Assi gravely wounded, resulting in the amputation of her right leg.

This attack was the first instance CPJ documented of Israeli forces deliberately targeting journalists following October 7, 2023. To date, CPJ has determined that a total of 59 journalists and media workers were directly targeted and killed by Israeli forces, cases that CPJ classifies as murders.

Independent investigations by AFP, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Reuters, and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon all concluded that Israel conducted an apparently deliberate attack on a group of clearly identifiable members of the media. A deliberate attack on civilians constitutes a war crime under international law.