DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israeli forces raided the offices of satellite news network Al Jazeera in the Israeli-occupied West Bank early Sunday and ordered the network to shut down amid escalating Israeli attacks targeting the Qatari-funded broadcaster. Israel and Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
Al Jazeera aired live footage on its Arabic channel of the Israeli army ordering the offices to close for 45 days, following an emergency decree issued in May. Israeli police raid Al Jazeera broadcasting station in East JerusalemThey seized equipment there, prevented it from broadcasting in Israel, and blocked its website.
The move marks the first time Israel has shut down a foreign media outlet operating in the country, but Al Jazeera continues to broadcast in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, areas Palestinians hope will become a future state.
The Israeli army did not immediately confirm the closure. It did not respond to AP’s request for comment. Al Jazeera, broadcasting live from Amman, neighboring Jordan, condemned the move.
Armed Israeli soldiers entered the office and told reporters live on air that the office was closed and that staff needed to leave immediately. Later, Israeli soldiers were seen destroying a banner on the balcony used by Al Jazeera’s offices. Al Jazeera said the banner Shireen Abu AkreA Palestinian-American journalist who was shot dead by Israeli forces in May 2022.
“There’s a court decision to close Al Jazeera for 45 days,” an Israeli soldier told Al Jazeera bureau chief Walid al-Omari in a live feed. “Take all your cameras and leave your office now.”
Al Omari said Israeli forces then began seizing documents and equipment inside the bureau as tear gas and gunfire were seen and heard in the area.
The 1993 Oslo Accords gave Palestinians limited autonomy in the Gaza Strip and parts of the occupied West Bank. While Israel occupies and controls large areas of the West Bank, Ramallah is under full Palestinian political and security control, making the Israeli attack on Al Jazeera’s offices all the more surprising.
The Palestinian Union of Journalists condemned the Israeli raid and the order.
“This arbitrary military decision is a new attack on journalistic work and the media,” the statement said.
The Palestinian Authority governs parts of the West Bank, but has no power there since it was expelled from Gaza when Hamas seized power in 2007.
The network has been covering Israel’s war with Hamas nonstop since the militants’ first border attack on October 7, and has continued its round-the-clock reporting from the Gaza Strip while its staff have been killed or injured in Israeli ground attacks. It is unclear whether the Israeli military will also target Al Jazeera’s operations in Gaza.
Al Jazeera’s Arabic version often broadcasts verbatim video statements by Hamas and other regional militant groups, interspersed with on-the-ground reporting on the war’s casualties.
As a result, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials have alleged that the network “undermined Israel’s security and incited its soldiers” — a claim vehemently denied by Al Jazeera, whose main donor, Qatar, has played a key role in the case. Israel and Hamas negotiate ceasefire to end war.
Israel’s order to shut down Al Jazeera has since been repeatedly renewed, but no order has been issued to close the Ramallah office as of now.
While Israeli governments have taken action against individual journalists for decades since the state was founded in 1948, they have broadly tolerated a turbulent media scene, including foreign bureaus around the world, including in Arab countries, and at the start of the war blocked the Beirut-based Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen News Channel from broadcasting abroad.
Criticism of Al Jazeera is not new: The U.S. government particularly criticized the network for airing videos of the late al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden during the U.S. occupation of Iraq after the 2003 invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.
Al Jazeera has been shut down or blocked Other Middle Eastern governments.
Most notoriously, in 2013, Egyptian authorities raided a luxury hotel that Al Jazeera used as its base after the military seized power following mass protests against President Mohammed Morsi. Three Al Jazeera staff members were given 10-year prison sentences but were released in 2015 following international criticism.
The war between Israel and Hamas began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Hamas has abducted a further 250 people and is holding about 100 hostages. At least 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military operations in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry does not distinguish between fighters and civilians.
The closure of Al Jazeera’s Ramallah bureau comes as tensions continue to rise over a possible expansion of war into Lebanon, where an electronic device explosion last week led to a tragic outbreak of violence. Israeli sabotage campaign targeting Shiite militia Hezbollah.
The explosions on Tuesday and Wednesday killed at least 37 people, including two children, and injured about 3,000.
