#IndexAwards2017: Breaking the Silence brings Hebron to Tel Aviv

For exposing the realities of life in the Occupied Territories, Breaking the Silence has faced a barrage of attacks from the government

Joint statement on death sentence of Palestinian poet Ashraf Fayadh

Index on Censorship condemns the decision by Saudi authorities to sentence Ashraf Fayadh to death on charges of apostasy

Recap report: Is it ever better to censor than to cause offence?

Index on Censorship and the Bush Theatre organised a debate as a part of the RADAR Festival, to explore the rights of the artist to free expression and to examine the role of arts institutions in defending and promoting free expression

Meltem Arikan: Creating life with the tools of death

Creating life with the tools of death, in the middle of a war, in a place where everyday children, women and men of all ages are being killed mercilessly.

Palestinian Arab Idol banned from performing at the World Cup

Mohammed Assaf says he can't sing at the Brazil 2014 opening ceremony because of some "countries" or "groups" -- and that Shakira is boycotting the event because of it

Israel tells Palestinian TV station to stop broadcasting

Israeli authorities have told a Palestinian TV station to stop broadcasting amid claims it was disrupting Israeli television broadcasting.

Gaza: Hamas reopens Palestinian news agency

Palestinian news agency Ma'an to reopen in the Gaza Strip four months after Hamas closed down the organisation

Report finds challenges to digital freedom in Palestine

The internet is a vital platform for Palestinians to express themselves, but web access and targeting of social media users, bloggers and journalists remain big challenges, Milana Knezevic writes.

Hamas shut down media bureaus over Egypt coverage

Gaza’s de-facto Hamas government closed the office of Al Arabiya, Palestinian network Ma’an news and the local production company Lens on Thursday. Ma’an reported the incident as having received a closure order from the Attorney General delivered directly to their offices. Al Arabiya published a report from their Gaza correspondent, stating that employees had been […]

An interview with one of Gaza’s banned journalists

On 25 December 2012, Gaza’s Hamas government announced a ban on Palestinian journalists working with Israeli media.  This decision affected just three journalists in Gaza, one of whom is 25-year-old Abeer Ayyoub. Abeer went from working as a fixer for visiting foreign journalists to writing stories herself, and in the process landing a job with Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz. Starting at the beginning of the last attack on Gaza in November 2012, she quickly made a name for herself by breaking stories that most journalists operating in the Strip had never realised existed. I spoke to Abeer about what the ban means for her work, and for the state of press freedom in Gaza today Ruth Michaelson: When we spoke the [...]

UN expert slams censorship by Israel, Palestinians

A UN human rights expert has slammed the government of Israel, the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza for unduly limiting free speech. Speaking at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, special rapporteur on free expression Frank La Rue said that intimidation, censorship and restrictive laws were having a chilling effect […]

Israel: Head of Palestinian prison news channel arrested

The head of a new Palestinian news channel has been arrested on undisclosed charges in Israel. Bahaa Khairi Moussa, the general director of the Palestine Prisoner Channel, which covers the conditions faced by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, was arrested on Thursday (17 May). Saher al-Qassim, the news broadcaster’s executive director, believes the channel’s specialist coverage has […]