Under pressure from the White House, Israel reversed its decision on Tuesday evening to interrupt the retransmission by the American agency Associated Press (AP) of its live video from the Gaza Strip ravaged by more than seven months of war between Israel and Hamas.
“Given that the Ministry of Defense wishes to examine the issue of the broadcasts and the risk to our forces, I have ordered to cancel the operation and return the equipment to the AP agency” until the Ministry of Defense is speaking out, said Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi.
This decision was announced after the American government indicated that it was “in direct contact” with the Israeli government and asked it to restore live broadcasts.
The Associated Press announced earlier in the day that its live video on the Palestinian territory had been cut by Israel, which accuses the news agency of violating a law which allowed Israeli authorities to ban the Qatari channel Al-Jazeera on their territory.
This decision immediately aroused strong reactions abroad, from the UN Secretary General, for whom it was a “rather shocking” development to the White House who asked Israel to restore live video from AP, via Reporters Without Borders (RSF) which denounced “shameless censorship”.
The AP attributed the cutting of its live broadcast to “abusive use by the government” of Benjamin Netanyahu of the law passed in early April which allows the broadcasting in Israel of foreign media “undermining the security” of the State.
AP said authorities seized his camera and broadcast equipment.
At the same time, in an article reporting the facts, the agency specified that Al-Jazeera was one of the thousands of customers of the video streams that it broadcasts live.
According to her, agents from the Ministry of Communications arrived in the afternoon at the PA site in Sderot in southern Israel, on the edge of the Gaza Strip, and seized the equipment.
The officials handed the AP a document, signed by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, alleging that the agency is violating the new law on foreign broadcasting, according to the agency.
” Warnings “
“We urge Israeli authorities to return our equipment and allow us to immediately restore our live broadcast, so that we can continue to provide ‘this important footage’ to thousands of media outlets around the world,” AP writes.
The Ministry of Communications indicated in a first statement that “AP photographers regularly photograph the Gaza Strip from the balcony of a house in Sderot”, also placing “emphasis on the activities of soldiers [israéliens] and where they are.
Israeli military censorship rules imposed on the press in the context of the war in Gaza prohibit the publication of images or information likely to allow the location of Israeli soldiers or military installations.
“The Israeli government has decided that it will not allow Al-Jazeera, which supports the terrorist Hamas, to broadcast from Israel,” the text said, adding that AP had received “warnings” from inspectors at the Ministry of Communications. but that she had not taken it into account.
“Extremely worrying”
The announcement of the cut was denounced by the Foreign Press Association (FPA) which saw it as “a scandalous decision” and a sign that Israel is on a “slippery slope”.
In the world press freedom ranking established by RSF, Israel is at 101e place on 180.
“Israel’s decision to restrict AP’s work is extremely worrying and constitutes a clear attack on press freedom,” responded Phil Chetwynd, AFP news director.
“The free flow of verified information and images from reliable sources is vital in the current very tense context. We urge the authorities to immediately reverse this decision and allow all journalists to work freely and without hindrance,” he added.
Israeli authorities have often criticized Al-Jazeera’s coverage of news in Israel and the Palestinian Territories where the channel has correspondents.
On May 5, Benjamin Netanyahu relied on the law passed by Parliament at the beginning of April to announce the ban on the channel and the closure of its offices, for a renewable period of 45 days.
Mr. Netanyahu has in the past accused Al-Jazeera of being “a propaganda organ of Hamas and of having actively participated” in the bloody attack carried out in Israel on October 7 by the Palestinian movement Hamas.
This attack resulted in the death of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP report based on official Israeli data. Of the 252 people then taken as hostages, 124 are still held in Gaza, including 37 dead according to the army.
Israel vowed to “annihilate” Hamas and launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip, resulting in the deaths of at least 35,647 people, most of them civilians, according to data from the Health Ministry of the Palestinian territory government. by Hamas.