The Israeli military conducted a raid on Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah early Sunday morning.
Armed soldiers stormed the building during a live broadcast, confiscating equipment and issuing a closure order for an initial period of 45 days, as reported by the BBC.
Israeli officials have consistently criticized Al Jazeera for being more than just a news network.
Its cozy relationship with Hamas and other terror groups operating out of Gaza has long raised eyebrows, but this time, Israeli intelligence claims to have solid evidence that Al Jazeera’s broadcasts have gone beyond mere rhetoric and are actively contributing to terrorism.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) justified the raid, stating that a legal opinion and intelligence assessment had determined that the Al Jazeera offices were being used to “incite terror” and “support terrorist activities.”
According to the IDF, the broadcasts posed a direct threat to Israel’s security.
Walid al-Omari, Al Jazeera’s West Bank bureau chief, was handed the closure order live on air. They were ordered to evacuate the place in 5 minutes.
WATCH:
This is how heavily armed and masked Israeli soldiers raided Al Jazeera’s bureau in the occupied West Bank’s Ramallah and imposed a 45-day closure order.
The network has condemned the action as ‘criminal’ and an affront to press freedom. pic.twitter.com/bofxlDFR9Y
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) September 22, 2024
More from Al Jazeera:
The Government Media Office in Gaza called the Israeli move a “deafening scandal”.
“We call on all media organisations 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,” it said.
Mostafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, said Israel has no right, legally speaking, to close any office in Ramallah, which falls in Area A under the security and civil administration of the Palestinian Authority (PA). He added that Al Jazeera’s operating license was issued by the PA.
“This is the real face of Israel, a country that claims to be a democracy and claims to be supporting freedom of press,” he said.
Izzat al-Risheq, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, described the closure order as “a retaliatory measure against its professional role in exposing the occupation’s crimes against our people”.
He said, “The closure of Al Jazeera’s office is the culmination of the declared war against journalists who are subjected to systematic Zionist terrorism aimed at hiding the truth.”
Al Jazeera serves as the heavily funded propaganda outlet of the Qatari regime, with a history of promoting Islamist extremist groups talking points.
In June, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that Abdallah Aljamal, an Al Jazeera reporter and photojournalist, was actively holding three Israeli hostages within his residence in central Gaza’s Nuseirat.
The Israeli military confirmed that Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv were held in the home of Abdallah Aljamal, a reporter for Al Jazeera and a confirmed Hamas terrorist, in central Gaza’s Nuseirat.
According to the IDF, Aljamal held the hostages alongside his own family members.
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