Jerusalem24 – Palestinian journalist Nadal Ijbaria was shot dead last night in the Palestinian city of Umm Al-Fahm inside Israel.
According to eyewitnesses, around 10pm last night, at least two masked men approached the car Ijbaria was sitting in and shot him at close range with one bullet hitting him in the head, before fleeing the scene.
Ijbaria was pronounced dead at the Haemek hospital in Afula after paramedics tried to resuscitate him.
The Israeli Police has launched an investigation into his death.
The 44-year-old independent journalist, who wrote for Sawt Al-Haq w Al-Huriyeh (Voice of Rights and Freedom) and founded the Baladna (Our Country) website, had come under threat before. His house had been shot at in June 2021 while his family was inside, but no one was injured.
Ijbaria spoke to Haaretz after last year’s attack, saying: “I am conscious of the growing violence in Arab society, and the ease with which people pull the trigger, so I am extremely careful with every sentence I publish[…] The atmosphere is tense due to the increasing threats against Arab journalists, and following the shooting, the fear is greater. It shows that no one is immune.”
The Palestinian Media Forum condemned today “in the strongest possible terms” the assassination of Ijbaria:
“The Palestinian Media Forum laments today one of the knights of the Palestinian national media, and offers its deepest condolences and sincerest feelings of sympathy on behalf of Palestinian media to the family of the deceased.”
Note: We have chosen to spell Ijbaria’s name as he spelled it himself on his social media accounts.
