The Israeli regime has deported a French journalist who has often been critical of its genocidal war on Gaza and its policies in the occupied West Bank.

A spokesperson for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday that France was supporting Alice Froussard, but that the Israeli regime ultimately had the legal right to deport her. The Israeli regime has been widely accused of suppressing the free press by clamping down on media outlets and targeting journalists.

No official reason was given for the journalist's deportation, but a senior Israeli minister later accused her of supporting Hamas. Israeli Minister for Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli wrote on social media of his joy that “Alice Froussard, a French journalist who supports Hamas, and who claims that the October 7 massacre must be viewed ‘in context’, is making her way from Ben Gurion Airport back to Paris”.

The barring of the journalist put the spotlight on the Israeli regime's long-running efforts to suppress international coverage of its siege of Gaza and invasion of Lebanon. While reporters from across the globe have been prevented from reporting from the Palestinian territory, numerous locally based journalists have been killed during the conflict that began following the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023.

The Foreign Press Association has condemned Froussard's treatment, stating that the Israeli regime had already authorised her travel to the country prior to her arrival. “This is not the first case in which the Israeli government decides that the journalistic coverage is ‘one-sided’,” it said in a statement.

The Israeli regime has been repeatedly criticised for restricting media coverage of its actions in Gaza. Not a single foreign reporter has been allowed to enter the enclave since it began its assault nearly three years ago. The ban has forced Palestinian journalists to report extensively on their own suffering. The Israeli regime is accused of killing hundreds of reporters and media workers in the enclave in an attempt to silence the reports.

Source: www.aljazeera.com