Smoke plumes billow during Israeli bombardment in the Saraya area in al-Rimal in central Gaza City on January 4, 2025 amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. Omar Al-Qattaa, AFP
MANILA — Trauma journalist Patricia Evangelista condemned the killings of journalists in war-torn Gaza in Palestine in her speech at the 2025 Frankfurt Book Fair on Friday, Oct. 17.
“To kill a journalist is a war crime. That crime is not bound by any national border,” she told the audience during the German book fair’s forum called "Language is a Human Right.”
Evangelista, on a panel with three other authors, was invited to read an excerpt from her book, "Some People Need Killing,” where she documented her experience in covering the drug war during the Duterte administration.
She instead read excerpts from three journalists who covered the war in Gaza, including journalist Anas Al-Sharif, who was killed in a "targeted Israeli attack," as reported by Al Jazeera.
Evangelista said, quoting Al-Sharif: “’This is my will and my final message,’ he wrote. ‘If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice.’”
240 JOURNALISTS KILLED IN GAZA
Al-Sharif was one of the over 240 journalists and media workers killed in Palestine in what the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) called “the deadliest period in the history of journalism” — Israel's assault on Gaza after a Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
IFJ said it has “evidence that the Israeli army has deliberately targeted journalists, and some of these cases are currently the subject of a complaint file before the International Criminal Court (ICC).”
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On October 12, Al Jazeera reported Palestinian journalist Saleh Aljafarawi’s killing, just two days after Israel announced that all parties had signed a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
The Gaza media office on October 18, however, said Israel already violated the ceasefire 47 times, killing 38 Palestinians and wounding 143 others, as reported by The Guardian.
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Evangelista underscored that “any person, any institution, any book fair, that purports to champion free speech and the freedom to publish should condemn the killing of those who would’ve told the story.”
She said that journalists try to be fair, accurate and truthful but are "never neutral."
"We choose the stories we tell. We choose the words we use. We know there is a difference between an encounter and an execution, a killing and a murder, a target and a civilian, self-defense and genocide.”
“The dead do not publish. The dead do not speak. For us to say we defend the freedom to speak, we defend the people who would’ve told the story. Dead journalists tell no stories,” she said.
BOYCOTT AND 'COUNTER-FAIR'
Many have called to boycott the Frankfurt Book Fair due to what they said is “bias on the side of Israel on the ongoing genocide and blockade of Palestine — that it seeks to erase the many stories of the Palestinian struggle for existence,” according to a solidarity statement signed by Filipino authors, writers, publishers and other creatives.
“The Philippines's participation at the FBF betrays Philippine literature's long tradition of struggle against and dismantling of fascism and colonialism,” it added.
The Philippines is the fair's guest of honor.
The statement also condemned the Philippines’ cooperation with Israel, the United States and Germany in projects in military, agriculture, tourism, and other industries.
The Philippines is among the 2025 Frankfurt Book Fair’s Guests of Honor.
Legarda urges Filipino creatives boycotting Frankfurt Book Fair 2025 to show up
Related to the boycott call, some publishers and authors organized the Palestinian Liberatory Book Fair across the street from the Frankfurt Book Fair.
Berlin-based grassroots organization ALPAS, in a joint statement with the Germany chapters of womens' group Gabriela and migrant workers' group Migrante, said the "counter-fair" features works by "Filipinos who stand with Palestine, including many who are boycotting the FBF."
They added: "Let us remember that despite the recent announcement of a ceasefire agreement, the genocide continues."
Author and journalist Michael Beltran, who pulled out from the Frankfurt Book Fair, said he did it in response to calls by Palestinian groups and in solidarity with the people of Palestine.
"[My] book is about revolutionaries, about exile and movements, and on the side of movements this book shall remain," he said, referring to "The Singing Detainee and the Librarian with One Book: Essays on Exile", his book on Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison and other exiles in the Netherlands.
"If participating in the Palestinian Liberatory Fair advances their organizing and solidarity from the Philippines by even an inch, then it is a worthy cause," he also told ABS-CBN News.
He said he joined the "counter-fair" because he didn't "want to boycott in silence" and wanted to use the opportunity to highlight that Filipinos are in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
He added the ceasefire has not removed the need to boycott or to stand with Palestinians.
“The ceasefire is just the first step in a long [list] of measures na kailangan ipatupad sa usaping ito (that have to be implemented on this issue)… There’s a ceasefire today but maybe a genocide again tomorrow or the next year." — with Jonathan de Santos, ABS-CBN News
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