VINCENNES, France (AP) — A Lebanese photojournalist seriously wounded in an Israeli raid in southern Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris on Sunday to honor journalists injured or killed on the field.
The torch relay, which began in May, is part of the festivities that about 10,000 people from different walks of life were chosen to carry the flame through France before the opening ceremony of the Games on July 26.
Christina Assi of Agence France-Presse was one of the six journalists hit by Israeli shelling on October 13, 2023 while reporting on the gun battles along the border between Israeli troops and members of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah groupA Reuters videographer was killed in the attack Issam AbdullahAssi was seriously injured and part of her right leg was amputated.
AFP videographer Dylan Collins, who was also wounded in the Israeli attack, pushed Assi’s wheelchair as she carried the torch through the suburb of Vincennes on Sunday, as her news agency colleagues and hundreds of onlookers cheered them on.
“I wish Issam was here to see this. And I wish what happened today wasn’t because we were hit by two rockets,” Assi told The Associated Press, fighting back tears. “I wish I could have honored journalists this way while I was walking and in my best health.”
AFP, Reuters and Al Jazeera accused Israel of targeting their journalists, who claimed they were far from the scene of the clashes in vehicles clearly marked as press, while international human rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said the attack was a deliberate attack on civilians and should be investigated as a war crime.
“This is an opportunity to continue talking about justice and the targeted attack on October 13th which must be investigated as a war crime,” Collins said.
The Israeli military said at the time that the incident was under investigation and said it was not aimed at journalists.
Holding the torch, Assi said taking part in the relay “should send a message that journalists must be protected and that they must be able to do their work without fear that they could die at any moment.”
In late November 2023, Rabih al-Maamari and Farah Omar of the pan-Arab television network Al-Mayadeen were also killed in a suspected Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon while reporting on the conflict.
Assi does not believe there will be retribution for the events of that fateful day in October, but hopes her participation in the Olympic torch relay can draw attention to the importance of protecting journalists. “For me, justice will come the day I can stand up again, hold my camera and go back to work,” she said.
The watchdog group Committee to Protect Journalists said in a preliminary count that at least 108 journalists have been killed since the campaign began. War between Israel and Hamas on October 7, the majority in the Gaza Strip.
The war was sparked by a sudden attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas on southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and kidnapping 250 others. Israel says Hamas is still holding about 120 hostages, about a third of whom are believed to be dead. Israel retaliated with an offensive that has killed more than 38,000 people in Gazaaccording to the area’s Ministry of Health, which makes no distinction between fighters and civilians.
Hezbollah militants have carried out almost daily attacks with the Israeli army along their border over the past nine months.
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Chehayeb reported from Beirut.