Al Jazeera’s West Bank headquarters in Ramallah was raided by Israeli forces on Sunday, and the Qatari broadcaster was asked to shut down the bureau for a 45-day period.
The Israeli action was denounced by the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, which condemned it as a further violation on media and journalism.
During a live broadcast, armed and masked Israeli troops stormed into the office and gave the workers the order to grab their cameras and quickly leave the workplace. Additionally, they gave a closure order to Walid al-Omari, the network’s chief of bureau for the West Bank, who read it loud live on air, according to Al Jazeera.
A court decision has mandated a 45-day shutdown of Al Jazeera. A soldier from Israel addressed Walid al-Omari in real time, saying, “I ask you to take all the cameras and leave the office at this moment.”
Although the raid and closure order were not unexpected, an Al Jazeera staff member stated that the network’s early shutdown was not envisioned.
“We’ve heard threats from Israeli officials regarding the bureau’s closure. The government has been talking about this and requesting that the military ruler in the occupied West Bank shut down the channel. However, we [had] not expected that to occur today,” Nida Ibrahim remarked.
In his remarks, Omari stated, “Targeting journalists in this way always aims to erase the truth and prevent people from hearing the truth.”
As a result of Al Jazeera’s coverage of the Gaza conflict since October 7 of last year, the already difficult relations between the Israeli government and the news organisation have gotten worse. Israel has frequently called the channel, which is owned by Qatar, a conduit for terrorism; Al Jazeera has refuted this accusation.
A bill authorising the government to temporarily shut down foreign broadcasters deemed a threat to national security during the Gaza war was passed by the Israeli Parliament earlier in April.
Read More: https://thelocaljournalist.com/one-year-of-conflict-the-gaza-crisis/
