The television network described as “criminal” the attack by Israeli forces on its facilities in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, and the issuance of a 45-day closure order.
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Qatari television channel Al-Jazeera on Sunday described as “criminal” the attack by Israeli forces on its facilities in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, and the issuance of a 45-day closure order.
“[A Al-Jazeera] “We strongly condemn and denounce this criminal act,” the channel said in a statement, stressing that it will not be “intimidated or deterred by efforts to silence its coverage.”
For the television network, the “raid” on its facilities and the “seizure” of its equipment “is not only an attack” against Al Jazeera, “but an affront to press freedom and the very principles of journalism.”
In a statement, the Israeli military argued that the television channel’s office in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, was being “used to incite terrorism”, an accusation deemed “baseless” by Al-Jazeera, which continued to broadcast live from Amman, Jordan.
The closure order was signed following a legal opinion and an assessment by the secret services, according to which “the offices were being used to incite terror, to support terrorist activities and the channel’s broadcasts endangered security and public order in the region and throughout the territory of the State of Israel,” the army said in a statement.
Al-Jazeera announced this morning that Israeli forces raided the offices of the Qatari television station in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, and issued an order to close it for 45 days.
“There is a court decision to close Al-Jazeera for 45 days,” an Israeli soldier told journalist Walid al-Omari at the time, the television reported, citing a conversation that was broadcast live on its Arabic-language channel.
“I ask you to take all your cameras and leave the office immediately,” the soldier added.
According to Al-Jazeera footage, soldiers from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) entered the station’s facilities with their faces covered and heavily armed.
Al-Jazeera said at the time that it had not been informed of the reason for the closure order.
The channel said that during the operation, the military took down a poster of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed in 2022 by an Israeli soldier while covering an IDF attack in the West Bank.
The government of the Gaza Strip, controlled by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, strongly condemned the decision to close Al-Jazeera’s offices in Ramallah, calling it a “crime and a clear violation of international law.”
In a statement posted on the messaging platform Telegram, Gaza authorities said the decision reflects “the weakness and fragility of the Israeli narrative in the face of the truth and facts on the ground.”
The statement also urged press unions and media organisations to condemn the act and called on journalists and media outlets around the world to stand in solidarity with Al-Jazeera in defence of press freedom.
On September 12, the Israeli government announced the withdrawal of accreditations from Al-Jazeera journalists, whose broadcasts had already been banned in early May for allegedly violating state security.
Government press office director Nitzan Chen said Al-Jazeera has “crossed red lines” since Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, in which 1,194 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 251 were kidnapped, served as a trigger for the war that has since continued in the Gaza Strip.
In late July, the Israeli court accepted a government request to ban Al-Jazeera from broadcasting, accusing it of committing a “genuine violation of state security.” The court ruling alleged that the channel’s content had incited terrorist attacks.
The Israeli government blocked Al-Jazeera’s website, confiscated its equipment and closed its Jerusalem headquarters in early May.
Founded and funded by the Qatari royal family, Al-Jazeera is one of the channels with the largest number of journalists in the Gaza Strip.
Source: Observadora
