Belal Jadallah

Belal Jadallah
بلال جادالله
Born	(1978-05-01)1 May 1978 Gaza City
Died	19 November 2023(2023-11-19) (aged 45) Zeitoun, Gaza City
Other names	Belal Jadallah Salem Bilal Jadallah
Occupation	Journalist

Belal Jadallah (Arabic: بلال جادالله; 1 May 1978 – 19 November 2023) was a Palestinian journalist and the director of the Press House - Palestine, a press freedom non-governmental organisation. He was killed by Israeli shelling during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war.

Life and education

Jadallah was born on 1 May 1978 in Gaza. He earned a bachelor's degree in English literature.^[1] Four of Jadallah's relatives work for Reuters.^[2] His youngest brother Ali Jadallah is a photojournalist.^[3]

Career

Jadallah worked as the director of media and international relations at Palestinian National Authority until 2006. He was the Head of the Palestinian Independent Center for Media Services until 2013.^[1]

In 2014, Jadallah founded Press House-Palestine, a Gazan non-profit organization focused on freedom of the press and journalism education.^[4] Jadallah and his organization were influential to many Gazan journalists, and Jadallah was described as the "godfather of Palestinian journalists".^[4] For decades, he had trained journalists and taught safety courses.^[5]

Jadallah had also contributed to work by the Committee to Protect Journalists, including by locating family members of journalists killed by Israeli military in Gaza and acquiring photos for a May 2023 report.^[6]

Belal reported on the 2023 Israel–Hamas war from Gaza. Jadallah and Press House also worked to provide safety and technical equipment and office space to journalists covering the conflict.^[4][6] According to his brother, photojournalist Ali Jadallah, he had been "very determined to stay in Gaza City for over a month and strongly believed it was his moral duty to tell the world what he witnesses in the besieged small city, assisting the needy people around him amid this humanitarian catastrophe".^[3]

Death

According to members of his family, Jadallah had told them he was planning to travel south from Gaza City on 19 November when he was killed in his car by an Israeli strike in the neighborhood of Zeitoun.^[4][3] His family also said that Jadallah's brother-in-law, Abdulkareem Abed, was seriously injured in the strike.^[3][2] He was 45.^[7]

See also

• Plestia Alaqad
• Wael Al-Dahdouh
• Motaz Azaiza
• List of journalists killed in the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
• Bisan Owda
• Violence against journalists in the 2023 Israel–Hamas war

References

1. "Freedom of Expression is a must! - Press House". Council of Europe. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
2. "Three more journalists killed in Gaza in Israeli offensive, relatives say". Reuters. 19 November 2023. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
3. Karanth, Sanjana (20 November 2023). "Belal Jadallah, A Giant In Palestinian Journalism, Killed In Israeli Bombing". HuffPost. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
4. Osman, Nadda (20 November 2023). "'Godfather' of Palestinian journalism Belal Jadallah killed in Israeli shelling". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
5. Brown, Chris (22 November 2023). "Journalists are dying at an alarming rate as Israel bombards Gaza and southern Lebanon". CBC News. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
6. "CPJ pays tribute to slain Palestinian press freedom defender Bilal Jadallah". Committee to Protect Journalists. 20 November 2023. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
7. Farooq, Umar (17 January 2024). "Remembering the 'father figure' of journalism in Gaza". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 5 October 2024.