CrossFireArabia
The Israeli occupation authorities have released, Tuesday, Palestinian journalist Asma Harish after a six-month administrative detention in prison.
Harish is from rom Beitunia near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank
CrossFireArabia
Haaretz is appealing to the Israeli authorities to reverse the closure of Al Jazeera’s office in the occupied West Bank. It described what happened as a wake-up call for the Israeli press.
In its “Don’t Close Al Jazeera,” editorial, Haaretz wrote stopping Al Jazeera’s broadcast in the West Bank for 45 days by military order is “another attempt by the far-right government to control the consciousness of Israelis, under a law passed last May that was turned into a dangerous tool in the hands of Information Minister Shlomo Karhi after it gave him unlimited powers.”
Last May, the Knesset passed a bill that empowers Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop the broadcast of any foreign channel if he deems it harmful to security, and Al Jazeera – with its Arabic and English stations – was the first victim after its broadcast was stopped in Israel.
Haaretz described the closure of Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah as a wake-up call for the Israeli press itself, stating the government is trying to muzzle journalists and Israelis to prevent them from knowing the full picture of events.
It recalled the office is located in Area A, which is entirely under the control of the Palestinian Authority, but that did not prevent dozens of soldiers from storming it in a “shameful act” that warns the Israeli press of a bleak future and nominates Israel to join the club of authoritarian countries in the region, a number of which have suspended the network’s broadcasts for periods of time.
Propaganda bubble
Haaretz said the far-right government of Israel is exploiting the war to instill fear in journalists on both sides of the Green Line, and sees any journalist holding a microphone as an enemy if he refuses to become a propaganda mouthpiece and chooses to criticize the actions of the army in the occupied territories.
The newspaper described Al Jazeera as a major media outlet in the Arab world and the rest of the world, and said that its journalists in the occupied territories have been practicing their profession for nearly two decades.
It believed that the real reason for closing the office is that Al Jazeera documents what is happening daily in the occupied Palestinian territories, and said the channel has burst the bubble of Israeli propaganda, before concluding with an “urgent” appeal to the Israeli authorities to back down from closing the office.
It stated that in the final analysis it will not prevent viewers in the Arab world and the rest of the world from knowing what is happening in the occupied territories, and will not prevent Al Jazeera Network from continuing to broadcast.
Last Sunday, the Israeli occupation forces stormed Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah, ordered its closure, and confiscated all equipment and documents with a military order to close it under the emergency law. They prevented the Al Jazeera crew in Ramallah and colleagues Walid Al-Omari and Guevara Al-Badri from working and stopped broadcasting.
The Israeli army sent trucks to confiscate and remove filming and broadcasting equipment and documents from the Al Jazeera office, despite the fact that the military order did not stipulate their confiscation.
This raid came four months after the occupation authorities closed the channel’s office in occupied Jerusalem.
Al Jazeera Network condemned the Israeli occupation forces’ storming and closing of its office in the city of Ramallah, and stressed that these repressive measures aim to prevent the world from seeing the reality of the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories and the war on Gaza according to Al Jazeera.net.
CrossFireArabia
Al Jazeera’s Palestine Bureau Chief Walid al-Omari condemns Israel’s closure of the network’s office in Ramallah, stating:
‘This strategy aims to erase the truth and silence voices that inform the public.’
CrossFireArabia
Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch, criticized Israel’s closure of Al Jazeera’s Ramallah office, linking it to the network’s vital coverage of the war in Gaza and repression in the West Bank.
He noted that Al Jazeera has been a key source of information on Israeli crimes against Palestinian civilians.
Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territory, echoed Roth’s sentiments by reposting his message, adding, “No witnesses allowed.”
CrossFireArabia
With heavy guns, Israeli soldiers barged into Al Jazeera office in Ramallah and ordered it shut down. The raid was in the early hours of the morning, Sunday.
Troops raided the office with one soldier reading read out an order to Al Jazeera Bureau Chief Waleed Al Omari.
The soldier said: “This is an order from the court to close the Al Jazeera office for a period of 45 days and I ask you to take all your belongings and cameras and leave this office now.”
Al Omari then asked to see the order and read it out on TV live amidst a force of Israeli soldiers. It stated this is: “…an order concerning the closure of the office of the Al Jazeera Channel for a period of 45 days, and this is a military order issued by the leader of the central region of the Israel army.”
Al Omari added: “It orders us to leave now and immediately this headquarter and take our personal belongings including the cameras…”
The action of the closure by the Israel army soon become trending on the social media with a tweet from the Quds News Network stating “Israeli occupation forces withdraw from the center of Ramallah after closing Al Jazeera office and confiscating its live footage equipment.
Full report was made of the closure on Al Jazeera English with Al Omari saying the Israeli military’s closure order accused the network of “incitement to and support of terrorism”.
The report added: Al Jazeera’s Jivara Budeiri said Israeli forces fired tear gas in the vicinity of the Al Jazeera bureau and the Manara Roundabout in the heart of the occupied West Bank city. She added that Israeli soldiers confiscated their cameras. Budeiri said she feared the military may try to destroy Al Jazeera’s archives, which are stored in the office.
Israel always wanted to shutdown Al Jazeera particularly after its coverage of the war on Gaza following 7 October, 2023. Last May the Benjamin Netanyahu government made a decision to ban Al Jazeera from broadcasting in Israel and shutdown its office in East Jerusalem.
This was a decision that was condemned by the Al Jazeera management but to no avail.
The recent decision on Al Jazeera Ramallah office is being called as a “deafening scandal” by the Government Media Office in Gaza and has called in all international organizations to condemn the latest move.
Ever since the Gaza slaughter Israel has killed 173 journalists mainly in the enclave to prevent reporting on the Israeli army’s atrocities that resulted in the killing of 41,400 people, mostly women and children and injury of 95,700 people.
