AFP Demands Answers After Israel Envoy Comments on 2023 Attack on Reporters in Lebanon

Agence France-Presse (AFP) has demanded a detailed explanation from Israel's ambassador to France after he publicly acknowledged that Israeli forces were responsible for a 2023 attack on journalists in Lebanon. The statement marks a significant development in a case where Israel had previously offered no formal admission of responsibility.

During a television broadcast, Israel's ambassador to France, Joshua Zarka, conceded that Israeli forces committed a "mistake" when firing on the group of reporters. He asserted that the soldiers on the ground mistakenly believed the journalists were "terrorists," rather than targeting them specifically because they were members of the press.

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In our view, these remarks amount to the first public acknowledgment by an official Israeli representative that the two strikes which hit a clearly identified group of journalists were carried out by Israeli forces.

This admission follows an October 2023 incident in southern Lebanon, near the Israeli border, where a Reuters journalist was killed and two AFP reporters sustained serious injuries. Both news agencies, along with several non-governmental organizations, had previously concluded that Israeli forces were behind the attack. However, Israel had consistently stated the incident was under review without formally acknowledging culpability.

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AFP is seeking precise and substantiated answers regarding what you yourself have described as a 'mistake'.

In a formal letter to Ambassador Zarka, AFP's news director Phil Chetwynd stated these remarks represent the "first public acknowledgment by an official Israeli representative" that Israeli forces carried out the strikes. Chetwynd is seeking "precise and substantiated answers" regarding what the ambassador himself termed a "mistake."

Reuters video journalist Issam Abdallah was killed in the attack, which also wounded six other journalists, including AFP's Dylan Collins and Christina Assi, who lost a leg. Chetwynd questioned the "complete absence of official acknowledgment" from the Israeli military to the affected journalists and AFP, especially given Zarka's public admission. AFP's investigation, along with those by Reuters, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Reporters Without Borders, all pointed to Israeli tank shells fired from northern Israel.

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The Israeli military has made no formal acknowledgment of responsibility to AFP, to Dylan Collins, or to Christina Assi.

Sara Qudah, the CPJ's regional director, described the attack as a potential war crime and noted that the ambassador's interview failed to clarify why clearly identified journalists were repeatedly targeted. Qudah stated that Israeli authorities must provide evidence supporting their claim of misidentification. Rights groups and media organizations frequently accuse Israel of deliberately targeting journalists, with the CPJ documenting 86 media worker deaths attributed to Israel in the previous year.

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How do you account for this complete absence of official acknowledgment, given that you yourself clearly describe this as a 'mistake'?