Hamas hails journalist union's expulsion of Israel

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas on Thursday hailed a decision by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) to expel Israel.

In a statement, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum described the move as "a step in the right direction".

Barhoum called on other global bodies to follow suit in order to "expose and isolate the Israeli entity and achieve justice for the Palestinian people".

Earlier this week, the IFJ's executive committee voted to expel Israel from the federation due to the failure of Israeli press syndicates to abide by IFJ regulations.

At an IFJ meeting in Brussels, 11 out of 17 member states voted in favour of the decision, two voted against, and three abstained.

The Jerusalem Post reported that the Israeli NIFJ felt that they were expelled for political reasons, but according to statements by secretary-general of the IFJ, Aidan White: "The decision to expel was financial alone…the Israeli union has not paid any fees at all since 2005…the longest time in debt of any union in the IFJ."

Political reasons were meant to be behind the expulsion of the Israeli NFIJ Federation, according to its leadership, but Aidan White, secretary-general of the IFJ, made statements saying: "The decision to expel was financial alone…the Israeli union has not paid any fees at all since 2005…the longest time in debt of any union in the IFJ", according to Jpost.

According to White there have been numerous other countries belonging to IFJ that were removed from the federation due to a lack of payment in fees. These include: Thailand, Kenya, Chile, Serbia, Korea, Moldova and Macedonia.

First founded in 1926, the IFJ claims to represent more than 600,000 journalists working in 140 countries around the world and its objectives are to defend and reinforce the rights of journalists.