“Israeli” Occupation Police Smash Journo’s Camera

By Staff, Agencies

Reporters with a Turkish broadcaster have accused “Israeli” police of assaulting a member of their team, with footage of the incident appearing to show an officer smashing a journalist’s camera with the barrel of his rifle.

Working for Turkey’s TRT news outlet, the camera crew was reporting from East al-Quds' [Jerusalem] Old City, where "Israeli" security forces clashed with Palestinians near al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday.

“The ‘Israeli’ police physically interfered with the TRT news team, breaking their camera with the barrel of a gun as they were working to cover events in the volatile region,” TRT reported, adding that the team was “reporting on ‘Israeli’ forces blocking and using force against Palestinians heading to al-Aqsa Mosque” at the time.

In a short video posted online, a group of “Israeli” officers are seen standing in the street before the camera lens is smashed by a person out of frame.

“Israeli” officials have yet to respond to the allegations, though the entity’s military has previously stated that it “has never, and will never, deliberately target journalists”.

A spokesperson for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Fahrettin Altun, later condemned the “Israeli” entity for the “ugly attack,” claiming its forces continue to “massacre” civilians and journalists, “and [prevent] members of the press from performing their duties.”

“‘Israel’, with all its armed elements, from its soldiers to its police, continues to violate international law and ignore any rules or principles. I condemn the attack by the ‘Israeli’ police on the TRT News team in Jerusalem [al-Quds], and I wish the TRT family to get well soon,” he said in a social media post.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists [CPJ], the latest flare-up between the “Israeli” entity and Hamas has been the deadliest conflict for reporters since the group began collecting data in 1992, with at least 42 journalists and media workers killed since October 7. The vast majority of those deaths were Palestinians working in Gaza, while four “Israeli” reporters and one Lebanese national have also lost their lives, the CPJ said.

The “Israeli” entity’s so-called Foreign Ministry, for its part, claimed that several Palestinian freelance photojournalists working with major Western news organizations had been “embedded” with Hamas and were complicit in the group’s attacks.

The “Israeli” entity started its war on Gaza on October 7 after resistance groups launched Operation al-Aqsa Flood in response to the regime’s intensified crimes against Palestinians.

Since then the Palestinian death toll from “Israeli” strikes has climbed to 11,240, including 4,630 children and 3,130 women. More than 28,000 people have been also injured in the regime’s military onslaught.

The entity has also blocked supply of water, food, electricity, and medicines to Gaza, plunging the coastal area into a humanitarian crisis. The regime has been defying global calls for a ceasefire as well.