Haaretz: Closing the Al Jazeera office in Ramallah is a warning to Israeli journalists as well news

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz said that the authorities’ closure of Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah (the West Bank) by military order is also a warning message to journalists to the Israelis who were silent about the matter, and did not realize that by keeping silent they were paving the way for similar behavior inside Israel.

In an article entitled “Closing the Al Jazeera office in Ramallah is a warning message to Israeli journalists,” Sherine Falah Saab wrote that what happened to the most important Arab channel that deals with Palestinian affairs may pave the way for a greater attack on press freedom in Israel itself, and it is not unlikely that Danny Cushmaro and Yonit Levy will stand up one day. (Channel 12 announcers) in front of their station office, watching helplessly as the army raids it to shut it down.

The writer reviewed how masked Israeli soldiers stormed and raided Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah and closed it for 45 days under a military order, but the news received only marginal coverage in the Israeli press, while, according to Sherin, every Israeli journalist and even “every citizen” is supposed to feel extremely concerned about what happened because It may be repeated in Israel.

The raid only lasted a few minutes, as the force asked the office director, Walid Al-Omari, to evacuate the place immediately, and a soldier appeared in a video recording telling him, “For greater details, you can contact the military commander (of Judea and Samaria)” in the occupied West Bank.

The writer explained that the small details in the recording are only part of a larger picture that embodies a relationship of intimidation practiced by the army on the person of the Al Jazeera office director, who realized that the matter was over but chose to film the scene before leaving, and that closing the office – despite its location in Area A of the Palestinian Authority – It exemplifies the Israeli government’s use of war to attack freedom of expression.

“A tooth in a cupboard”

The writer described the raid force as merely “a cog in the closet” of what she called the government of ruin that gnaws away at every day of freedom of the press. She recalled the law that was passed last May with the approval of the majority of Knesset representatives, and authorizes the government to stop broadcasting foreign channels if the Prime Minister estimated that it harms security. The Nationalist Law, a law of which Al Jazeera was among the victims.

She asked the Israeli journalists to imagine the scene if a military force raided the offices of Channels 13 and 12, and the anchor on the latter channel (Levi) was forced to stand outside her station building to sadly follow what was happening, as happened to Al Jazeera correspondent Guevara Al-Badiri, or her colleague (Kushmaru) found himself appearing on the air. For the last time. The writer said that this is not a fantasy, but may actually happen under a government in which the media is headed by Minister Shlomo Qarai, who targets the media profession.

The moment the occupation forces prevented our colleagues Guevara Al-Badiri and Walid Al-Omari from working in the street in Ramallah, and the broadcast stopped.#Gaza_War #News pic.twitter.com/MldH03sNF5

– Al Jazeera Channel (@AJArabic) September 22, 2024

The writer expressed her regret that Israeli journalists ignore what is happening to their Palestinian colleagues, “they are invisible to them,” and thus they did not rush to raise the issue on the “X” platform, and opposition representatives did not express their shock or sympathy with Al-Omari and other Palestinian journalists, because they did not realize that what had happened was The other side of the Green Line may also happen in Israel.

The article concluded by saying that what was frightening was not only the closure of the Al Jazeera office, but also the speed with which it happened. When Al-Omari asked a soldier how long the matter would take, he replied, “A few minutes.” The army – according to the article – “closes a media channel simply because it can.” The writer reminded that the Israeli authorities arrest At the same rapid pace, Israelis are demonstrating to return prisoners from Gaza and demand an end to the war.

The Israeli occupation forces stormed Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah and ordered it to close for 45 days according to a military order. They then confiscated all equipment and documents in the office, prevented its employees from using their cars, and stopped broadcasting the channel, 4 months after the channel’s office in Jerusalem was closed.