“We call on all media organizations and groups that deal with human rights in the world to condemn this heinous crime … that is a blatant violation of press and media freedom,” the Gaza Government Media Office stated.
eTurboNews heard the call and condemned the move by Israel as an alarming trend in the world to undermine freedom of the press. eTN Publisher Juergen Steinmetz said: “This closure of Al Jazeera in occupied Palestine is specifically disappointing in a year the upcoming World Tourism Day is hoping for progress in tourism and peace.”
“Press freedom is on the line, even in tourism and within the United Nations. We have experienced this with UN Tourism since 2018”, Steinmetz added.
Media freedom is an integral element of democracy, human rights, global security, and prosperity.
Media rights groups have criticized the Israeli government for its restrictions and attacks on journalists, particularly Palestinian reporters on the ground in Gaza. Since the start of the war in October of last year, Israeli forces have been accused of killing 173 journalists. That includes Al Jazeera’s Ismail al-Ghoul and Samer Abudaqa.
According to Al Jazeera heavily armed and masked, Israeli soldiers raided the Al Jazeera bureau in the occupied West Bank and delivered a 45-day closure order issued by a military general.
“We’ve heard Israeli officials threatening to close down the bureau. We’ve heard the government discussing this, asking the military ruler in the occupied West Bank to close down and shut down the channel. But we [had] not been expecting it to happen today,” Al Jazeera reporter Ibrahim said.
“This is a media outlet that disseminates false content, which includes incitement against Israelis and Jews and constitutes a threat to IDF soldiers,” GPO Director Nitzan Chen said.
The move, which includes journalists and broadcasters in both Hebrew and Arabic, will be subject to a hearing. The channel producers and photographers will not be affected. The revocation will remain in effect as long as the temporary government order is in force.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called Al Jazeera a “mouthpiece for Hamas.”
The shutdown had not affected broadcasts from the West Bank or the Gaza Strip, from which Al Jazeera still covers Israel’s war with Palestinian militants.
The Israeli military has repeatedly accused journalists from the Qatari government-supported network of being “terrorist agents” in Gaza affiliated with Hamas or its ally, Islamic Jihad. Al Jazeera denies the Israeli government’s accusations and claims that Israel systematically targets its employees in the Gaza Strip.
Russia’s state-run television network RT (formerly known as Russia Today) has reported that its Arabic branch office in the Gaza Strip was destroyed by Israeli military forces.
