Armed and masked Israeli soldiers raided the offices ofAl Jazeera in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, and ordered the Qatari channel to close for 45 days, the latter announced, condemning an act “criminal”.
Read also: “REPORTAGE. In the West Bank, Israel accelerates the conquest of lands and bodies”
Al Jazeera already banned in Israel
On September 12, the Israeli government announced the revocation of the press cards of several journalists fromAl Jazeerafour months after banning its broadcast and ordering the closure of its bureau in Israel on May 5. This ban had not until then affected the channel’s work in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
“An affront to freedom of the press and the very principles of journalism”
These initiatives were taken in application of a law adopted in early April by Parliament authorizing measures to be taken against foreign media. “endangering state security”.
In Doha, the channel condemned a “criminal act” Israeli forces, adding that this « raid » on his desk and “the seizure” of his equipment were not “not just an attack” against her “but an affront to freedom of the press and the very principles of journalism.”
The military said the office ofAl Jazeera was “used to incite terror, to support terrorist activities”, and that the channel’s broadcasts “endangered security and public order in the region and in the State of Israel.”
Four staff members ofAl Jazeera have been killed since the start of the war. The Israeli military has repeatedly accused Al Jazeera journalists of being “terrorist agents” in Gaza affiliated with Hamas. Al Jazeera denies Israel’s accusations and says the country systematically targets its employees in Gaza.
Read also: “Israeli army says it hits Hezbollah targets in Lebanon after rocket fire”
Journalists targeted since Gaza offensive
At the end of July, two journalists from the Qatari channel were killed in the Gaza Strip by an Israeli strike. “This attack on Al Jazeera journalists is part of a systematic targeting campaign targeting the channel’s journalists and their families since October 2023,” the media reacted at the time.
The Foreign Press Association in Israel and the Palestinian Territories has declared itself “deeply disturbed by this escalation” and called on Israel to “reconsider” his decision, according to a press release reports theAFP.
For its part, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called on Israeli authorities to “stop harassing” Al Jazeera . “Israel’s efforts to censor Al Jazeera seriously undermine the public’s right to information about a war that has upended so many lives in the region,” CPJ program director Carlos Martinez de la Serna said in a statement.
