Lara Escudero, a correspondent for Spanish TV channel Noticias Cuatro in Jerusalem, along with several other journalists including women, faced threats, insults, and verbal abuse while covering a demonstration by ultra-Orthodox Jews on 1 July protesting the latest measures of Benjamin Netanyahu's government in the ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood of Mea Shearim, in Jerusalem.
In the Mea Shearim area, there are signs advising visitors not to enter if dressed "indecently". Despite complying with the community's dress code, Escudero and her colleagues were still targeted with degrading accusations and insults, being called "impure (unholy)" and receiving death threats.
Noticias Cuatro TV broadcasted footage that showed a group of men throwing bottles, trash, posters, and other objects at the journalists. Despite the hostile environment, Escudero remained calm and attempted to leave the area while the crowd blocked her way.
On her X account, Escudero wrote that she and her fellow journalists, especially women, were targeted with threats and aggressive behaviour from the demonstrators. Some men reportedly said, "This is not a place for women. If you don't leave, we will throw stones at your heads." The journalist described the experience as one of the most humiliating moments of her career, highlighting the extremism and intolerance felt by the journalists.
The UGT Grouping of Journalists (FeSMC-UGT), said,"We condemn the situation journalist Lara Escudero has suffered and express our solidarity to her. Lara Escudero suffered doubly: as a woman and as a correspondent practising her profession. Some Israelis don't seem to like any of those things."
Agustín Yanel, Secretary General of the Federation of Journalists' Trade Unions (FeSP), claimed: "FeSP categorically rejects the insults and threats to journalist Lara Escudero, of Cuatro, and other professionals while they were doing their work in Jerusalem. In addition to preventing them from exercising their right to report, groups of orthodox Jews taunted her and other journalists for being women [...] We express our solidarity and support for them, and call on the Spanish government to demand that the Israeli government take measures to guarantee the work of journalists".
The Federation of Citizen's Services of Comisiones Obreras (FSC-CCOO) rejected the aggressions and said: "We raise our voice against the exacerbated machismo suffered by a professional woman who, because she is a woman, has been prevented from carrying out her work and has been degraded with insults, sadly still in force, issued from prejudices and mentalities of another era that we can no longer tolerate. [...] We are deeply outraged that a colleague has been the protagonist of her own chronicle [...] We stand in solidarity with her and against fanaticism, wherever it comes from".
Miguel Ángel Noceda, President of the Federation of Spanish Journalists' Associations (FAPE), said: "FAPE strongly condemns the aggressions suffered by the journalist Lara Escudero, of Cuatro Televisión [...] Furhtermore, FAPE calls on the Israeli government to protect journalists carrying out their public service work in all circumstances within its territory".
IFJ has called on the Israeli authorities to investigate the incident thoroughly and hold those responsible accountable. The IFJ Deputy General Secretary Tim Dawson said, "We hold a zero-tolerance policy against any form of gender-based attack. The targeting of women journalists not only threatens press freedom but also perpetuates a cycle of discrimination and violence against women. We call on Israeli authorities to ensure journalists can exercise their profession without fear, no matter their gender"