Eminent journalists, scholars, activists and citizens came together at the Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh on August 29 for an interaction with the Palestinian ambassador to India, Abdallah M. Abu Shawesh, and to protest against the killing of Palestinian journalists in Gaza.
The gathering, organised by Indian Journalists for Palestine – a collective of media professionals and journalist organisations – carried a sombre mood as grief and anger converged with a determined call to resist what participants described as a systematic silencing of Palestinian voices.
The meeting condemned the deaths of Palestinian reporters and reaffirmed the role of journalism as a form of resistance against occupation and erasure, and it highlighted the urgent need for Indian and international media to engage more directly with Palestinian realities.
Ambassador Abdallah M. Abu Shawesh emphasised the scale of the crisis and criticised the lack of inquiry despite hundreds of journalists being killed, and he urged Indian media to amplify Palestinian perspectives rather than retreat from covering them.
Speakers drew attention to the August 25 Israeli airstrike on Al-Nasser hospital in Gaza, which killed five journalists working with Al Jazeera and Associated Press, and they noted that this attack brought the number of Palestinian journalists killed since October 2023 to over 270, which is described as an unprecedented toll in modern warfare.
Participants also recalled earlier incidents, including the August 10 killing of Al-Jazeera journalist Anas El-Sharif and his colleagues in what has been described as a deliberate assault by the Israeli Defence Forces, and they alleged that Israel is systematically targeting journalists as part of a strategy to collapse the information infrastructure of Gaza.
Journalist Srinivas Jain reflected on his own reporting experience in Gaza in 2014 and explained how fragile communication networks forced reporters to work from rooftops that have since been destroyed, and he criticised Western media for disproportionately echoing Israeli narratives by portraying Palestinian reporters as operatives rather than professional journalists.
Human rights activist Gautam Navlakha expressed concern over what he described as India’s complicity in the ongoing genocide, and he argued that restrictions on pro-Palestinian protests amounted to a criminalisation of dissent that weakened civil society’s response. Activist Feroze Mithiborewala highlighted the resilience of Palestinians who refused to surrender despite relentless violence, and he pointed to efforts like the Hind Rajab Foundation that continue documenting war crimes even under siege.
The event concluded with candles lit in memory of Palestinian journalists who lost their lives, and the participants reiterated their solidarity with the Palestinian struggle as a collective fight for justice.