A Journalist Asked Why Israel Isn’t Paying to Rebuild Gaza. It Cost Him His Job.

An Italian journalist who asked a European Commission official why Israel shouldn’t pay for the reconstruction of Gaza was let go by his news agency.

Gabriele Nunziati, a Brussels-based reporter who covered the EU for Rome’s Nova news agency, told The Intercept he received a notice that he would lose his job barely a month after he became a correspondent.

“I received an email from my news agency telling me that they intended to stop our collaboration.”

The move, which was first reported by the Italian news website Fanpage, came after he asked Paula Pinho, the European Commission’s chief spokesperson, about Gaza’s reconstruction on October 13.

“You’ve been repeating several times that Russia should pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine,” Nunziati, who is a contractor with Nova, said at a press conference. “Do you believe that Israel should pay for the reconstruction of Gaza since they have destroyed almost all its civilian infrastructure?”

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Pinho replied that it was “definitely an interesting question, on which I would not have any comment.”

A clip of the exchange went viral — not a frequent occurrence for European Commission press conferences — and Nunziati found himself in demand.

“It was republished by several media outlets, and it got really huge,” he said. “I was even contacted by several people saying, ‘I saw you on Insta!’ Two weeks later — on October 27 — I received an email from my news agency telling me that they intended to stop our collaboration.”

The agency often uses “collaboration” contracts with limited protections that include nondisclosure agreements, according to staff sources.

Nunziati said that he received two “tense” phone calls from his superiors at Nova in the two weeks between his question and the notice that his contract would end, but declined to comment further.

Francesco Civita, a spokesperson for Nova, confirmed that the news agency had ended its relationship with Nunziati over his Gaza question. Civita said that Nunziati had been let go for asking a question that was “technically incorrect” because Russia had invaded a sovereign country unprovoked, whereas Israel was responding to an attack.

The difference between Russia’s and Israel’s positions had been “repeatedly explained” to Nunziati, Civita said, “but he had “completely failed to grasp the substantial and formal difference in the situations.”

“Indeed, he insisted that the question was correct, thus demonstrating his ignorance of the fundamental principles of international law,” Civita said. “Worse still, the video related to his question was picked up and reposted by Russian nationalist Telegram channels and media outlets linked to political Islam with an anti-European agenda, causing embarrassment to the agency.”

“Uncomfortable Question”

Speaking to an Italian newspaper, Anna Laura Orrico, a member of Italian Parliament from the Five Star Movement, denounced the decision to let Nunziati go.

“If the story corresponds to the facts, it would be simply shameful for a media outlet to make such a decision,” she said.

Another Nova journalist, who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect their livelihood, told The Intercept that Nunziati’s case was “the tip of the iceberg of Italian censorship to which journalists are subjected” on Israel. 

“Gabriele was fired because he asked an uncomfortable question to the European Commission,” the journalist said. “In the days that followed, the atmosphere was very tense.”

The Nova agency journalist said that, after Nunziati’s dismissal, “all the journalists in the editorial office became silent.”

Several Western journalists have lost their jobs after asking tough questions or making critical comments about Israel’s war in Gaza. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, more than 240 journalists have been killed in Gaza, with scores injured and nearly 100 imprisoned by Israel.