By Cuba Periodistas Editorial on May 13, 2025
Nasser Abu Baker, Palestinian Journalist Union
The president of the Palestinian Journalists’ Union, Nasser Abu Baker, has denounced the “atrocities” and violence to which professionals are subjected by Israel. “They kill us to kill the truth,” he said at the 21st Xornalistas de Liberdade de Prensa (Journalists for Press Freedom) Awards ceremony, organized by the Professional Association of Journalists of Galicia in collaboration with the Civil Rights Department of the Provincial Council of A Coruña, which this time hosted the event in Spain.
“We are all under threat; I have been targeted several times. There is not a single journalist in Palestine who is not a victim. The atrocities they suffer are against press freedom worldwide, and that is why we must show solidarity and stand together,” reflected Nasser Abu Baker, according to a report on the website www.laopinioncoruna.es
During the ceremony, the manifesto Estamos dentro (We Are In) was read to the audience. It was drawn up to mark World Press Freedom Day and calls for using imagination to think about “another kind of journalism that is possible in these difficult times.”
Journalist Valeria Pereiras also participated in the event in which he detailed the conditions in which journalists work in Palestine and denounced the Israeli government for “not wanting anyone to see the reality of what is happening there.”
Like that of all their compatriots, the reality for Palestinian reporters is desperate. Nasser Abu Baker reiterated in the discussion that “there is no journalist who is not a victim” and called on all international journalists and the general public to “continue to take to the streets to denounce what is happening and call on the International Criminal Court to intervene.”
In other news on the subject, the website www.galiciapress.es reports that the dean of the Professional Association of Journalists of Galicia recalled that since October 7, 2023, “over 200 journalists have been killed” in Palestine, which constitutes the “most extreme” context in which people who try to report are persecuted and murdered.
“Palestinian journalists work under bombs, amid bullets, in the rain, under the scorching sun of Palestine. Many have no homes because more than 1,700 journalists’ homes have been destroyed. They work in tents and in incredible fear. They work among the bodies of those who have been killed, victims who are often their own relatives, and despite everything, they continue to do their job,” said Nasser Abu Baker, visibly moved.
The union leader believes that since Donald Trump returned to the White House, “Israel’s war machine has been ramped up and it has been given even more dangerous weapons than it already had.” Nasser Abu Baker clarified that his Palestinian colleagues “are not against the Jewish people, but against the occupation and acts of violence.”
However, he said, the Israeli press “works for the army and broadcasts what Israel wants to show the world,” which is why he considers it “ and essential part of the occupation.”
In this regard, the president of the Palestinian Journalists’ Union lamented that ”much to my regret, they are part of the occupation and defend violence and atrocities. What they are trying to do is create a false and deceptive narrative to tarnish the image of the Palestinian people.”
Source: Cubaperiodista, translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English