Photo: Hermes 900 drone. Photo from Wikipedia.
Journalists are human rights defenders – and they are increasingly being killed by armed drone strikes.
In Voices at Risk: Canada’s Guidelines on Supporting Human Rights Defenders, Global Affairs Canada states: “Journalists and other media professionals often face the same risks as HRDs precisely because of their work. Because they criticize authority figures, report on criminal activity, and speak the truth, they are often targeted by governments, paramilitaries, armed groups, criminal organizations, and security personnel. Attacks range from harassment and intimidation to assault, abduction, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, torture and murder.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has documented: “Israel was responsible for two-thirds of all press killings in both 2025 and 2024.” This suggests, according to CPJ figures, that Israel killed 86 journalists in 2025 and 85 in 2024 for 171 of the overall 251 press killings those two years.
Drones: A new tool for journalists’ killers
The CPJ then emphasizes: “One clear warning sign in the 2025 numbers is the rising number of journalists killed by drones: unmanned aircraft or small flying devices controlled remotely and with the ability to visually identify targets.”
The CPJ further notes: “The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has committed more targeted killings of journalists than any other government’s military since CPJ began documentation in 1992.”
And the CPJ reports: “Israel was responsible for nearly 75% of the journalists killed by drones from 2023 to 2025.” That means Israel killed 28 journalists in 2025, 17 in 2024 and 1 in 2023 via armed drone strikes for a total of 46 journalists. That’s 46 of the 62 press killings in those three years.
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Action Center for Corporate notes: “Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, Elbit Systems is one of the primary suppliers of weapons and surveillance systems to the Israeli military, including Skylark and Hermes military UAV drones, which form the majority of Israel’s fleet of large drones and have been used extensively in Gaza.”
The AFSC further explains: “Elbit Systems’ killer Hermes 450 and 900 drones have been used extensively in attacks on and surveillance missions in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and Lebanon.”
Along with drone attacks against journalists and media workers, the AFSC notes: “On Oct. 13 [2023], the Israeli military fired 120mm tank rounds at journalists in south Lebanon, killing Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and injuring six others in what could amount to a war crime.”
The AFSC then highlights: “The munitions used were most likely M339 rounds made by Elbit Systems, according to Amnesty International.”
Thales
Disclose also reports: “The French armament group sold electronic components and communication systems for Israeli drones for €2m between 2018 and 2023, Disclose can reveal based on business documents. The Thales equipment is likely to be used in strikes against Palestinian civilians.”
They add: “Based on 12 invoices issued between 2018 and 2023 to two Israeli arms industry heavyweights, Israel Aerospace Industries and Elbit Systems … Thales sold them operational support systems for €2m for armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).”
Disclose emphasizes: “These are not average drones but Heron TP and Hermes surveillance and attack UAVs, two models which have allegedly been used against Palestinian civilians for almost 15 years.”
CANSEC, May 28-29
Israel, Elbit and Thales, along with the world’s largest and most profitable weapons and surveillance companies, will be at the CANSEC arms show at the EY Centre this coming May 27-28, 2026, in Ottawa.
Communities are organizing to shut down CANSEC.
