Israel closes Al Jazeera’s office in the West Bank

The Israel-Israel Interference Network and the Al Jazeera Broadcasting Agency: Israeli Response to Palestinian Observations and Israel’s Implications

“There is a court ruling for closing down Al Jazeera for 45 days,” an Israeli soldier told Al Jazeera’s local bureau chief, Walid al-Omari, in the live footage. I ask you to leave the office at the present time, and take all the cameras.

There was no immediate acknowledgement of the shutdown by Israeli forces. The military of Israel didn’t respond to a request for comment from the AP. The network continued to broadcast from Amman in Jordan.

The office was invaded by Israeli troops and told a reporter that the staff needed to leave immediately. The network aired a video of Israel troops tearing down a banner on the balcony. Al Jazeera said it bore an image of Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist shot dead by Israeli forces in May 2022.

Israeli troops began confiscating documents and equipment from the bureau as gunshots and tear gas could be heard in the area, according to Al-Omari.

The Palestinian Authority administers parts of the West Bank. Its forces were driven from Gaza when Hamas seized power in 2007, and it has no power there.

That has led to Israeli claims by officials up to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the network has “harmed Israel’s security and incited against soldiers.” Al Jazeera has denied the claims, as they were one of the factors in brokering the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.

Press freedom advocates have decried Israel’s actions against Al Jazeera, saying they have set a worrying precedent for international news outlets working in Israel. They have demanded that Israel permit Al Jazeera and other media organizations to carry out their work freely.

Criticism of Al Jazeera is not new. The U.S. government singled out the broadcaster during America’s occupation of Iraq after its 2003 invasion toppled dictator Saddam Hussein and for airing videos of the late al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.

Most notably in 2013, Egyptian authorities raided a luxury hotel used by Al Jazeera as an operating base after the military takeover that followed mass protests against President Mohammed Morsi. Three Al Jazeera staff members received 10-year prison sentences, but were released in 2015 following widespread international criticism.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza, Lebanon, and its prospects for a border extension of the israel-Hamas war in the West Bank

The Israel-Hamas war began when Hamas-led fighters killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in an Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. They are holding around 100 people, including another 250 who were kidnapped. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, at least 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s campaign in Gaza.

Tensions have risen over the possibility of an expansion of the war in Lebanon where electronic devices exploded last week, in a likely sabotage campaign by Israel against the Hezbollah militia.

The raid showed that Israeli authorities are prepared to take far-reaching action to undermine the channel and that it provides coverage of Israel’s military operations in Gaza and the West Bank.