As we know, on November 18th 2012, the Foreign Press Association – headed by Paul Danahar of the BBC’s Jerusalem Bureau – put out a statement which included the following:
“The resolution states that the UNSC “Unanimously adopting resolution 1738 (2006), the Council recalled, without prejudice to the war correspondents’ right to the status of prisoners of war under the Third Geneva Convention, that journalists, media professionals and associated personnel engaged in dangerous professional missions in areas of armed conflict shall be considered civilians, to be respected and protected as such” ” [emphasis added]
Here is footage taken on the same day as the FPA statement was issued and titled by the BBC itself “Israel-Gaza conflict: BBC presenter under rocket fire”.
Apart from the fact that the BBC’s Health & Safety department might want to improve risk assessments by instructing reporters to familiarize themselves with the protocols of behaviour in the event of rocket attacks (clue: standing outside in an open space and talking is not one of them), it is remarkable that neither the BBC nor the FPA apparently feels the need to issue a statement on the deliberate targeting of civilians (which, as we now know, includes journalists) by Hamas.
After all, that does contravene the Protocol on the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts.
