US State Department voices support for free press after Israel's Al Jazeera closure law

'We've not always agreed with all of Al Jazeera's coverage, but it's a media organization that we engage with,' says spokesman

Rabia İclal Turan |01.04.2024 - 


WASHINGTON

The US State Department on Monday expressed support for free press after Israel’s Knesset passed legislation that allows the closure of Al Jazeera channel.

"We support the independent, free press anywhere in the world. And we think the work that the independent free press does is important everywhere in the world," said Spokesman Matthew Miller during his press briefing.

"And much of what we know about what has happened in Gaza is because of reporters who are there doing their jobs, including reporters from Al Jazeera," he added.

"We think it's well known that we've not always agreed with all of Al Jazeera's coverage, but it's a media organization that we engage with," he said. "What we will continue to make clear is that we support the work that the free press does".

Israel’s Knesset on Monday passed legislation allowing the closure of the Al Jazeera television.

Under the bill, the communications minister will be empowered to shut down foreign networks operating in Israel and confiscate their equipment if the defense minister identifies that their broadcast poses “an actual harm to the state’s security.”

Following the passage of the law, Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi vowed that the Qatari-funded Al Jazeera channel would be closed down “in the coming days.”

Early Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “immediately act to close Al Jazeera” following the bill's passage in the Knesset.

Israeli parliament passes law paving way for Al Jazeera closure



Published: 01 Apr 2024 -
The Peninsula

Doha, Qatar: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to “act immediately to stop” Al Jazeera’s operations in the country after the Israeli parliament approved a law that grants senior ministers powers to shut down foreign news networks deemed a security risk, according to Al Jazeera.

“Al Jazeera harmed Israel’s security, actively participated in the October 7 massacre, and incited against Israeli soldiers,” Netanyahu wrote on X, on Monday. “I intend to act immediately in accordance with the new law to stop the channel’s activity,” he said.

Meanwhile Al Jazeera in a statement said, in an escalating move, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a frantic campaign against Al Jazeera, accusing it of harming Israel’s security, actively participating in the October 7 attack, and inciting against Israeli soldiers. Al Jazeera Media Network condemns these statements and sees as nothing but a dangerous ludicrous lie.

Netanyahu could not find any justifications to offer the world for his ongoing attacks on Al Jazeera and Press Freedom except to present new lies and inflammatory slanders against the Network and the rights of its employees.

Al Jazeera holds the Israeli Prime Minister responsible for the safety of its staff and Network premises around the world, following his incitement and this false accusation in a disgraceful manner.

The network stresses that this latest measure comes as part of a series of systematic Israeli attacks to silence Al Jazeera, including the assassination of its correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh, the killing of its journalists Samer AbuDaqqa and Hamza AlDahdouh, the bombing of its office in Gaza, the deliberate targeting of a number of Al Jazeera journalists and their family members, and the arrest and intimidation of its correspondents in the field.

Al Jazeera reiterates that such slanderous accusations will not deter us from continuing our bold and professional coverage, and reserves the right to pursue every legal step.

Netanyahu vows to ban Al Jazeera after Israel passes law

Legislation allows the news channel's offices in Israel to be closed


Protesters hold signs and flags calling for Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu's to be removed at a demonstration in Jerusalem,
April 1, 2024. Reuters


The National
Apr 01, 2024
Live updates: Follow the latest news on Israel-Gaza

The Israeli parliament passed a bill on Monday that gives ministers the authority to ban Al Jazeera from broadcasting in the country, a move which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to put into effect.

The law, which passed by 70 votes to 10, allows the government to shut down foreign channels and gives senior ministers the power to close the offices of foreign broadcasters in Israel.

Mr Netanyahu had said he would take “immediate action” to shut down Al Jazeera in Israel once the law passes.

Mr Netanyahu's Likud party said he asked “to make sure that the law to close Al Jazeera will be approved this evening” in Israel's parliament, the Knesset.

“The terrorist channel Al Jazeera will no longer broadcast from Israel. I intend to act immediately in accordance with the new law to stop the channel's activities,” Mr Netanyahu said in a post on X after the law was passed.

The bill, which allows officials to ban foreign media that is deemed to be harmful to national security, had already passed its first parliamentary hurdle last month.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called the move "concerning".

"We believe in the freedom of the press, it is critical. It is critically important and the United States supports the critically important work of journalists around the world,” she told reporters.

The US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the Biden administration has "not always agreed with" Al Jazeera's coverage, but highlighted its vital work in Gaza.

“Much of what we know about what has happened in Gaza is because of reporters who are there doing their jobs, including reporters from Al Jazeera," Mr Miller said.

Israel had claimed in January that an Al Jazeera staff journalist and a freelancer killed in an air strike in Gaza were “terror operatives”.

The following month it said another journalist for the channel, wounded in a separate strike, was a “deputy company commander” with Hamas.

Al Jazeera has fiercely denied the accusations and accused Israel of systematically targeting Al Jazeera employees in the besieged enclave where Israeli forces have been fighting Hamas since October.

Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abu was killed in an Israeli strike on Gaza in December. The attack also wounded the channel's bureau chief in the enclave, Wael Al Dahdouh, whose wife and two children were killed in an Israeli strike in October.

His son Hamza Dahdouh, who was also an Al Jazeera journalist, was killed in another strike in January.

Since the war began, 90 Palestinian journalists have been killed and 16 more have been arrested, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. More than 32,800 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in almost six months of war, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.

- With reporting from agencies

Knesset approves bill to shut down 

Al Jazeera in Israel

New law approved in second and third reading stipulates Communications Minister could act against foreign media channels in Israel should they be found to harm the country; White House spokeswoman criticizes bill

Moran Azulay|

YNET


The Knesset approved Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi’s bill ordering Qatari news network Al Jazeera to cease its operations in the country in a final reading on Monday. "Hamas mouthpieces won’t have any freedom of expression in Israel. Al Jazeera will be shut down in the coming days,” Karhi said in a statement.

The law promoted by Karhi and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to shut down foreign channels (including Al Jazeera, Al Mayadeen, and others), was approved by the Knesset Plenum in second and third readings.

The law stipulates the Communications Minister could act to shut down foreign media channels in the country should the prime minister find it is harming Israel after reviewing at least one security assessment on the issue and conditioned by the approval of the government or security cabinet.

Actions will be approved by orders signed by the Communications Minister, and will include: closing down the channel's offices in the country, confiscating broadcasting equipment, preventing channel reporters from broadcasting, removing the channel from cable and satellite providers in the country, blocking its websites in the country, and more.

"We have approved a quick and efficient tool to act against those who use the freedom of the press to harm Israel's security and IDF soldiers and incite terrorism during wartime," Karhi said in a statement following the law’s approval.

שלמה קרעי
(צילום: אלכס קולומויסקי)

Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed the law on social media, writing on his X account: "Al Jazeera has harmed Israel's security, actively participated in the October 7 massacre, and incited violence against IDF soldiers. The time has come to remove Hamas' mouthpiece from our country. The terrorist channel Al Jazeera will no longer broadcast from Israel.

 I intend to act immediately in accordance with the new law to stop the channel's activities.”

Despite Netanyahu’s praise, other members of his Likud party criticized the bill’s wordings. "The bill as presented by the Communications Minister is both ineffective and damaging," Likud MK Amit Halevi told Ynet. "It’s absurd that our coalition will vote in favor of such a bill. It primarily reflects an extreme lack of judgment aimed at gaining popularity."

According to Halevi, the approved law in its current form isn’t effective. "The overwhelming majority of Al Jazeera viewers in Israel’s Arab sector watch it via satellite dishes or the internet, not Israeli broadcasters. The agency’s internet servers and offices will reopen in Ramallah if shut down in Israel.”

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre criticized the law in a statement, saying, “We believe in the freedom of the press. It is critical. It is critically important, and the United States supports the critically important work of journalists around the world, and that includes those who are reporting in the conflict in Gaza."

“So, we believe that work is important. The freedom of the press is important. And if those reports are true, it is concerning to us," she added.

Israel forces raid Al Jazeera TV in West Bank, order 45-day closure

Issued on: 22/09/2024 - 

Global news channel Al Jazeera said armed and masked Israeli forces raided its office in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Sunday and issued a 45-day closure order.

Israeli troops 'tear down Shireen Abu Akleh banner' at Al Jazeera West Bank bureau

Israeli forces raided Al Jazeera's bureau in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, later tearing down a banner featuring slain journalist Shireen Abu Akleh

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
22 September, 2024

Israeli forces have raided and ordered shut Al Jazeera's bureau in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank [Issam Rimawi/Anadolu/Getty]


Israeli troops tore down a banner of slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh at Al Jazeera's bureau in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, according to the pan-Arab broadcaster.

The bureau was raided by Israeli forces and Al Jazeera aired footage of troops live on its Arabic-language channel ordering the office to be shut for 45 days.

The network later aired what appeared to be Israeli troops tearing down a banner on a balcony used by the Al Jazeera office.

Al Jazeera said it bore an image of Abu Akleh, a celebrated journalist for the news outlet who was killed by Israeli forces in May 2022 as she reported on a raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.

Al Jazeera's local bureau chief, Walid Al-Omari, later told the AP news agency that the Israeli military cited laws dating back to the British Mandate of Palestine to support its closure order.

In a conversation during the raid broadcast live on Al Jazeera, an Israeli soldier told Al-Omari there was a court ruling to close down the office for 45 days.

"I ask you to take all the cameras and leave the office at this moment," the soldier is seen as saying in the footage.

"Targeting journalists this way always aims to erase the truth and prevent people from hearing the truth," Al-Omari said.

Al Jazeera called the raid a "criminal act".

It followed an order issued in May that saw Israeli police raid Al Jazeera's broadcast position in occupied East Jerusalem, seizing equipment there, preventing its broadcasts in Israel, and blocking its websites.

The move marked the first time Israel has ever shuttered a foreign news outlet operating in the country.

However, Al Jazeera has continued operating in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military acknowledged conducting the raid 12 hours later, claiming without providing evidence that the newsroom was "being used to incite terror, to support terrorist activities and that the channel's broadcasts endanger… security and public order".

Al Jazeera denounced Israel's "unfounded accusations" as it continued broadcasting live from Amman, Jordan, even as Israeli troops welded shut its office doors in Ramallah and confiscated its equipment.

"Al Jazeera will not be intimidated or deterred by efforts to silence its coverage," it said.

Press groups condemn Israel closing Al Jazeera office in Ramallah

The Committee to Protect Journalists says it is ‘deeply alarmed’ by the raid and calls for protection of freedom of the press.


Video Duration 06 minutes 45 seconds06:45
Published On 22 Sep 202422 Sep 2024

Press freedom groups and rights activists have condemned the Israeli military forcibly shutting down Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, calling the act an assault on journalism.

Early on Sunday morning, Israeli soldiers raided the bureau of the Qatar-based network and ordered its closure for 45 days.

The raid, captured on live TV, showed heavily armed Israeli troops handing an Israeli military court order to Al Jazeera’s bureau chief Walid al-Omari, informing him of the closure.

Al-Omari later said the court order accused Al Jazeera of “incitement to and support of terrorism” and that the Israeli soldiers confiscated the bureau’s cameras before leaving.

“Targeting journalists this way aims to erase the truth and prevent people from hearing the truth,” he said.

During the raid, Israeli soldiers also tore down posters of slain Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, which were displayed on the walls of the bureau, al-Omari said.
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The Ramallah office raid came five months after Israel shut the news channel’s operations in occupied East Jerusalem and took it off cable providers.
‘Relentless assault’

In a statement, the Committee to Protect Journalists said it was “deeply alarmed” by the Israeli raid, just months after Israel shuttered Al Jazeera’s operations in Israel after deeming it a threat to national security.

“Israel’s efforts to censor Al Jazeera severely undermine the public’s right to information on a war that has upended so many lives in the region,” it said.

“Al Jazeera’s journalists must be allowed to report at this critical time, and always.”

In a brief statement on X, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said it “denounces Israel’s relentless assault” on Al Jazeera. RSF had previously called for the repeal of an Israeli law that allows the government to shut down foreign media in Israel, “targeting Al Jazeera channel”.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate denounced Israel’s “arbitrary military decision”, calling it “a new aggression against journalistic work and media outlets”.

“We call on the entities and institutions concerned with journalists’ rights to condemn this decision and stop its implementation,” the group said.

The Palestinian Authority said the Israeli operation against Al Jazeera in Ramallah was “a flagrant violation” of press freedom.
‘Affront to press freedom’

Al Jazeera has been providing extensive coverage of Israel’s nearly-year-long military offensive in Gaza and of a parallel surge in violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Four Al Jazeera journalists have been killed since the war in Gaza began, and the network’s office in the besieged territory was bombed. A total of 173 journalists have been killed in Gaza since the war began in October last year. Israel claims it does not target journalists.

The Al Jazeera network, which is funded by the Qatari government, has also rejected accusations that it harmed Israel’s security as a “dangerous and ridiculous lie” that puts its journalists at risk.

Israeli Minister of Communications Shlomo Karhi justified Sunday’s closure of Al Jazeera’s bureau, calling the network “the mouthpiece” of Gaza’s Hamas and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah.

“We will continue to fight the enemy channels and ensure the safety of our heroic fighters,” he said.

In a statement, however, the Al Jazeera Media Network said it “vehemently condemns and denounces this criminal act by the Israeli occupation forces”.

“Al Jazeera rejects the draconian actions, and the unfounded allegations presented by Israeli authorities to justify these illegal raids,” it said.

“The raid on the office and seizure of our equipment is not only an attack on Al Jazeera but an affront to press freedom and the very principles of journalism.

‘A bigger West Bank onslaught’

Rami Khouri, a Middle East expert at the American University in Beirut, said the closure of Al Jazeera’s Ramallah office is in line with the policy of Israel since 1948, “which is to prevent real news about the Palestinians”.

“It probably means that there’s going to be a bigger onslaught… of Israeli violence all over the West Bank. And the primary instrument for informing the world about what Israel is doing is not going to be available to do it,” he said.

Mouin Rabbani, a non-resident fellow at the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies, said the decision to shut down Al Jazeera’s bureau in Ramallah shows that Israel “clearly has something very serious to hide”.

“In this particular case, if you don’t like the exposure of genocide in the context of an illegal occupation, you shoot the messenger.”
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Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies

Reporters Without Borders condemns Israeli shut-down of Al Jazeera's West Bank bureau

RSF says it once again 'denounces Israel's relentless assault' on Qatar-based media group

Seda Sevencan |22.09.2024 - 

Israeli soldiers close the Al Jazeera office in West Bank after raiding it

ISTANBUL

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Sunday condemned an Israeli raid of Al Jazeera's office in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah and the subsequent closure of the bureau.

In a post on its X account, the press freedom organization said Israeli soldiers stormed the Qatar-based media group's office in Ramallah early on Sunday, forcing staff to evacuate.

It said they also imposed a 45-day closure and tore down a poster of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed by Israeli gunfire in Jenin on May 11, 2022.

RSF condemned the raid, saying, "Once again, RSF denounces Israel's relentless assault on @alJazeera."

On May 5, the Israeli government decided to ban Al Jazeera, close its offices in Israel and restrict access to its website under a law passed by the Knesset (parliament) that allows the communications minister to shut down foreign networks operating in Israel and confiscate their equipment if the country's defense minister identifies that their broadcasts pose "actual harm to the state’s security."

Despite the ban, the office staff continued to operate from Ramallah, prompting the Israeli Press Office, affiliated with the prime minister's office, to revoke the accreditation of its reporters on Sept. 12.

Israeli officials have frequently criticized the Qatar-based channel, particularly for its extensive coverage of the brutal Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip.

Israel has continued its deadly onslaught on Gaza following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.

Nearly 41,400 people, mostly women and children, have since been killed and more than 95,700 injured, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the territory amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel faces accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.

Targeting of Gaza’s journalists continues: Ismail al-Ghoul and Rami al-Rifi killed in Israeli strike

Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
2 August 2024

Dozens of journalists protest the killing of “Al Jazeera” journalist Ismail al-Ghoul and photographer Rami al-Rifi, while holding pictures of their colleagues and their press vest which was torn, in Gaza City, Gaza 1 August 2024. Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu via Getty Images

These deadly attacks against "Al Jazeera" personnel coincided with a steady defamation campaign by Israeli authorities.

This statement was originally published on rsf.org on 1 August 2024.

An Israeli strike killed Al Jazeera journalist Ismail al-Ghoul and photographer Rami al-Rifi on 31 July while they were on assignment in the north of Gaza. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) expresses outrage over this latest attack and calls for increased international pressure on the Israeli government to immediately halt its forces’ massacre of journalists.

Al Jazeera journalists Ismail al-Ghoul and Rami al-Rifi were reporting live from the al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza city, shortly before an Israeli strike hit their car, killing them both. Footage published by their colleague Anas al-Sharif shortly after the strike at around 4PM on 31 July shows both reporters killed inside an isolated white car in the middle of an empty street, visibly damaged by a direct strike. Al-Sharif said both reporters were found decapitated. They were wearing their press vests, according to RSF’s information.

A statement by the Al Jazeera Media Network called the killings a “targeted assassination” by Israeli forces and pledged to “pursue all legal actions to prosecute the perpetrators of these crimes.” According to the media outlet, the two reporters had contacted their news desk 15 minutes before the deadly strike. During the call, they reported on another nearby attack and were advised to leave the area. Ismail al-Ghoul, one of Gaza’s most recognisable reporters, had already been arrested by Israeli forces in al-Shifa hospital on 18 March and released 12 hours later.

Al-Ghoul and al-Rifi were on assignment along with other reporters in the al-Shatti refugee camp, near the house of Hamas political leader Ismail Haneya. They were covering the aftermath of Haneya’s assassination in Iran the night before. The Israeli army did not comment on the strike that killed the two reporters, but constantly denies targeting journalists in Gaza. According to RSF’s information, however, more than 120 journalists have been killed by Israeli forces in the strip since 7 October 2023. At least 29 of them have been killed in circumstances that point to intentional targeting, in violation of international law. RSF has filed three complaints with the International Criminal Court (ICC) since then, calling on the court to investigate these war crimes against journalists as a matter of urgent priority.

“We are appalled by this violent attack on two prominent Al Jazeera journalists – the latest incident in nearly 10 months of crimes against journalists in Gaza, where more than 120 journalists have now lost their lives. RSF urges the Israeli government to immediately commit to ending the violence against journalists that continues to be mercilessly committed by Israeli Defence Forces, constituting flagrant examples of war crimes. We also call for increased international pressure to ensure journalists still working in Gaza are able to safely do their jobs, and to secure justice for the far too many already killed. This massacre must stop now.”
Rebecca Vincent, RSF’s Director of Campaigns

With the killing of al-Ghoul and al-Rifi, the number of Al Jazeera journalists killed in Gaza rises to five, all targeted by direct strikes according to RSF’s information. Journalist Hamza al-Dahdouh – the son of Wael al-Dahdouh, Al Jazeera’s bureau chief in Gaza – and his colleague Moustafa Thuraya – were killed by a targeted Israeli strike at the start of January. A month later, Wael al-Dahdouh was himself injured by another targeted drone strike that killed Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa.

These deadly attacks against Al Jazeera personnel coincided with a steady defamation campaign by Israeli authorities, which accused Al Jazeera of being a “spokesperson for Hamas” that “threatens the Israeli military,” and which resulted in a temporary ban of the broadcaster enforced in Israel and Palestine. The ban was renewed for 45 days on 5 May, then for another 45 days on 9 June. RSF has repeatedly warned that the campaign against Al Jazeera, as well as the relentless conflation of journalism with “terrorism,” endangers reporters and threatens the right to information everywhere.

‘ELIMINATED’: Israel Brags Of Killing Noted Al Jazeera Journalist In Gaza

Matt Shuham

HUFFPOST
Thu, August 1, 2024 

Mourners and colleagues surround the body of Al-Jazeera Arabic journalist Ismail al-Ghoul, killed along with his cameraman Rami al-Rifi in an Israeli strike. OMAR AL-QATTAA via Getty Images

A day after an Israeli air strike killed a noted Al Jazeera journalist and his cameraman, the Israeli army acknowledged killing the reporters — and indicated the strike was purposeful.

Al Jazeera correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul and his cameraman Rami al-Rifi were killed by an Israeli airstrike Wednesday, shortly after reporting from the destroyed home of Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas’ political wing, who had earlier in the day been assassinated in Iran.

Graphic video of the scene of the airstrike shows al-Ghoul was wearing a blue vest reading, “PRESS,” when he was killed. Both al-Ghoul and al-Rifi were wearing press vests and their vehicle carried “identifying signs,” Al Jazeera reported. Multiplereports indicated a nearby child was also killed in the strike.


In a tweet Thursday, the Israeli military indicated it had purposefully targeted the journalist, claiming without evidence that al-Ghoul was a “terrorist” and a member of Hamas’ military wing.

“🔴ELIMINATED: Ismail al-Ghoul, a Hamas Military Wing operative, Nukhba terrorist and @AJEnglish journalist,” read the Israel Defense Forces’ post on X (formerly Twitter).

The post further asserted, without evidence: “As part of his role in the military wing, Al-Ghoul instructed other operatives on how to record operations and was actively involved in recording and publicizing attacks against IDF troops. His activities in the field were a vital part of Hamas’ military activity. The IDF and ISA will continue to operate in order to eliminate terrorists who participated in the October 7 massacre.”

“We have no further comment than what has already been said,” an IDF spokesperson told HuffPost in an email Thursday.

Al-Ghoul had been covering the war in Gaza since November. In March, he reported that he and other journalists had been arrested by Israeli soldiers during the Israeli attack on al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. They were then stripped, handcuffed, blindfolded and interrogated over several hours, according to al-Ghoul; witnesses said he was severely beaten. Al-Ghoul reported being detained for about 12 hours.

Among other questions, the IDF spokesperson did not answer why Israeli forces had released al-Ghoul in March if he was supposedly a military operative of Hamas.

In a statement Thursday, Al Jazeera repeated its earlier condemnation of Israel’s killing of al-Ghoul and al-Rifi, noting that the decision to release al-Ghoul in March “debunks and refutes their false claim of his affiliation with any organisation.”

“The Network condemns the accusations against its correspondent, Ismail Al Ghoul, without providing any proof, documentation or video, and highlights Israel’s long history of fabrications and false evidence used to cover up its heinous crimes, while also denying journalists from around the world access to the Gaza Strip to report on the deteriorating humanitarian conditions and the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza,” the statement said.

Al Jazeera called for an independent international investigation into “the brutal and heinous crimes” committed by Israeli forces against its journalists and staff, and noted that it “reserves its right to pursue all legal actions.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists has called the war in Gaza the deadliest period for journalists since the nonprofit began recording data in 1992.

Since Oct. 7, CPJ has confirmed that 108 Palestinian journalists have been killed, in addition to two Israeli and three Lebanese journalists. Fifty-two journalists have been reported arrested, 32 have been reported injured, and two have been reported missing, CPJ said Thursday, noting there are “numerous” other reports under investigation.

Palestinian officials put the number of Palestinian journalists killed at over 160. Multiple journalists have been directly targeted by Israeli forces, CPJ’s president, Jodie Ginsberg, told Al Jazeera.

“Documenting a war isn’t terrorism, it’s journalism,” the Freedom of the Press Foundation said in response to the Israeli military’s post Thursday.

“If the @IDF can prove al-Ghoul was working for Hamas’ military, it should do so immediately,” the post added. “If not, this looks like a flimsy excuse for intentionally murdering a journalist from an outlet Israel dislikes.”

Thursday marked the 300th day of Israel’s military operation in Gaza, which started when Hamas and other Palestinian militants launched a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages into Gaza.

Nearly 39,500 Gazans have been killed since hostilities began, according to Palestinian officials.

Israeli government officials have a track record of accusing journalists of being militants. In November, top Israel officials amplified allegations that Palestinian journalists were participants or accomplices in the Oct. 7 attack — only for the source of the allegations, the group HonestReporting, to walk back its claims, saying it was just “raising questions.”


Al Jazeera rebuffs Israeli claim killed journalist was Hamas operative

Yolande Knell - BBC News, Jerusalem
Fri, August 2, 2024 


Al Jazeera said its correspondent and cameraman were killed in an Israeli strike [Reuters]

Al Jazeera has strongly rejected the Israeli military’s claim that its correspondent killed in an air strike in Gaza this week was a Hamas operative who participated in the 7 October attacks.

Harrowing video shared on social media showed Ismail al-Ghoul’s decapitated body after he was targeted in his car in Gaza City on Wednesday.

His cameraman, Rami al-Rifi, and a boy passing on a bicycle, Khalid Shawa, were also killed.


While regional news this week has been dominated by other high-profile assassinations, many Palestinians have also focused on the killing of the locally prominent journalist.

In a statement on Thursday, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) described Ismail al-Ghoul as a “Hamas military wing operative and Nukhba terrorist” - the assertion being he was part of an elite unit in the armed group.

It alleged that as part of his role he “instructed other operatives on how to record operations and was actively involved in recording and publicising attacks against IDF troops”. The IDF did not include Rami al-Rifi in its statement.

Al Jazeera called the accusation against its staff member “baseless” and said it “highlights Israel’s long history of fabrications and false evidence used to cover up its heinous crimes”.

Ismail's brother Jihad also told the BBC that his late sibling was strictly a civilian “portraying the suffering of the Palestinian people inside Gaza City to the outside world”.

Based in Gaza City, the reporter had become a regular face on the Qatar-based TV channel, which is a popular news source in the region but has faced intense criticism from Israeli authorities.

As Friday prayers in Gaza were dedicated to the late Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in the Iranian capital Tehran, some Palestinians said they were also thinking about those who had been killed closer to home.

Hamas leader Haniyeh buried in Qatar

“I am truly heartbroken about Ismail [al-Ghoul],” commented Maha Sarsak, who has been displaced from Shujaiyeh to the centre of the strip. “I was keeping up on the news in the north through him on social media. We didn’t always have a TV, but we could hear his voice on the radio.”

Journalists in Gaza laid down their flak jackets at one gathering to honour al-Ghoul and al-Rifi this week.

A friend of the pair said: “They hadn’t been sleeping for days nor eating. They had even lost a lot of weight.”

Ismail al-Ghoul covered Israel’s raid of Shifa Hospital in March and was arrested by the IDF at the site - but released after 12 hours without charge. Al Jazeera claimed this “debunks and refutes their false claim of his affiliation with any organisation”.

The two Al Jazeera journalists’ last assignment had been gathering reaction to news of Haniyeh’s death. Their car was targeted close to the Hamas leader’s destroyed house in Shati Camp, an urban refugee camp.

Israel has blocked international journalists from entering the Palestinian territory during the war, except on limited and highly controlled visits with the Israeli military. Prior to the closure of its Rafah border crossing with Gaza, Egypt also prevented reporters from entering.

Over 10 months, many networks, including the BBC, have relied on local Palestinian staff for their on-the-ground news coverage and taken on new employees or freelancers.

Al Jazeera said that Ismail al-Ghoul had been working for the channel since November. It said that he had endured “hardships” during the war including losing his father and brother.

Other cameramen spoke of how al-Rifi had used his technical expertise to help them with their filming.

After images of a dead Khaled al-Shawa, the boy killed in the strike, were widely publicised, the boy’s mother put out a message on social media pleading for him to be remembered too.

“My son is not an unidentified martyr,” she said. “We must say the names of our martyrs. They should not talk about us as numbers.”

Al Jazeera, which broadcasts in English and Arabic, has recently seen a series of attacks against its staff in Gaza and their families.

In late October, Wael Dahdouh, the network’s well-known bureau chief, was reporting when he received word on-air that his wife, daughter, a son, and grandchild were killed in an Israeli airstrike.

In December, he was injured in an attack that also killed another Al Jazeera cameraman, Samer Abudaqa.

In January, a strike killed Mr Dahdouh’s son, Hamza, and Mustafa Thuria, a video stringer, while they were working for Al Jazeera. The IDF later alleged the men were “members of Gaza-based terrorist organizations".

Al Jazeera has previously fiercely denied Israel’s claims and accused it of systematically targeting its employees.

The network has also condemned the decision by Israel’s government in May to ban its broadcast in the country on accusations it harms national security. Last month, the ban was extended by the Tel Aviv District Court.

The United Nations has called for a full investigation and accountability for the killings of the Al Jazeera journalists and others, saying that journalists everywhere must be protected.

There are differing tallies of the number of media workers killed since the unprecedented, deadly Hamas-led attacks on Israel that prompted the war in Gaza.

However, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the latest deaths in Gaza bring the number of journalists killed to 113, including 108 Palestinians, three Lebanese and two Israelis who were killed during the 7 October assault.
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Two Al Jazeera journalists killed in Israeli airstrike on Gaza

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Thu, August 1, 2024 at 2:16 AM MDT·3 min read

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An Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed two Al Jazeera journalists on Wednesday as Benjamin Netanyahu’s military continued its war in the besieged Palestinian territory.

Israeli forces targeted a car carrying reporter Ismail al-Ghoul and cameraperson Rami al-Rifi, both 27, killing them instantly, along with a child who was travelling with them.

At least 113 media workers, most of them Palestinians, have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched an air and ground offensive in the territory following a Hamas attack last October that killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and took more than 250 hostages.

Israel has killed more than 39,000 Palestinians in Gaza so far, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry. The fighting has displaced nearly 90 per cent of its 2.2 million population, according to the UN, and left around half a million facing starvation.

The Al Jazeera journalists were travelling to report from near the destroyed home of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh following his assassination in Iran when they were killed, their colleague Anas Al-Sharif said.

Haniyeh was assassinated by a suspected Israeli missile strike in Tehran during the early hours of Wednesday in an attack that has further escalated tensions in the Middle East and raised fears about the prospect of a wider regional war. Israel hasn’t directly claimed responsibility.

The bodies of the slain Al Jazeera journalists were taken to nearby al-Ahli hospital from where al-Sharif spoke over the phone with the Qatari news channel. Information about the child killed in the attack wasn’t available.

Al Jazeera denounced the “targeted assassination” of its journalists and pledged to “pursue all legal actions to prosecute the perpetrators of these crimes”. “This latest attack on Al Jazeera journalists is part of a systematic targeting campaign against the network’s journalists and their families since October 2023,” the network said.

Mohamed Moawad, managing director of Al Jazeera Arabic, said without al-Ghoul the world would not have seen "the devastating images of these massacres". He is survived by his wife who has been living in a camp for internally displaced people and a young daughter.

“Shame on those who have failed the civilians, journalists, and humanity," Moawad said.

Hamas accused Israel of deliberately targeting the journalists, calling it a "heinous crime" aimed at "terrorising and silencing" Palestinian mediapersons who report on "the ongoing genocide" in Gaza.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric called for an investigation and accountability for the killing of the two journalists.

Israel has denied targeting journalists and blamed the high death toll on Hamas fighting in densely populated urban areas. The Israel military said in December it "has never, and will never, deliberately target journalists".

The Israeli government closed Al Jazeera’s offices in the country in May under a new law that allows it to shut down media outlets deemed a security threat.

The network has seen several journalists or their family members in Gaza killed in Israeli attacks since the war began.

Samer Abudaqa, a cameraperson, was killed in a strike in December. Wael Dahdouh, the network’s bureau chief in Gaza, was reporting in October when he received word on air that his wife, daughter, son and grandchild had been killed in an Israeli attack. Another of his sons, who also worked for Al Jazeera, was killed in an Israeli strike in January.

EXPLAINER

Al Jazeera in Palestine: A timeline of coverage against all odds

The network has continued to report on the plight of Palestinians, despite intimidation.

A mural depicting slain Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh adorns a part of Israel's separation barrier, in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, on July 6, 2022 [Mahmoud Illean/AP Photo]

By Shola Lawal
3 Jan 2025

AL JAZEERA

Al Jazeera Media Network has strongly condemned the Palestinian Authority (PA) ban on its operations in the occupied West Bank this week, calling it an action that “aligns with Israeli occupation practises”.

Since its launch in 1996, Al Jazeera’s reporters have covered the Middle East, from the Arab Spring to Israeli settler violence in the West Bank and the brutal war on Gaza, even when other news organisations pulled their journalists out.


National Press Club hands Al Jazeera’s Wael Dahdouh press freedom award 

Palestinian journalist, Gaza Civil Defence workers killed in Israeli strike

Media freedom watchdog decries Israel’s killing of journalists in Gaza

‘Crime against journalism’: Gaza journalists decry PA’s Al Jazeera ban

From the start, Al Jazeera has faced attempts to silence its reporting through arrests, imprisonment and attacks on its journalists. And since Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza began in October 2023, the channel has faced even more attempts to stifle its reporting on Palestine.

Al Jazeera’s determination to provide round-the-clock, firsthand reporting on the horrors in Gaza and the deadly raids in the occupied West Bank has come at a high cost, with at least six Al Jazeera journalists killed in the Palestinian territory since 2022.

The PA’s decision to ban Al Jazeera mirrors Israel’s announcement last year that the channel would be banned in Israel and then its closure of the bureau in Ramallah.
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Here’s a breakdown of how Al Jazeera has been targeted by both the PA and Israel:

Israeli soldiers raid and order the closure of the Al Jazeera office in Ramallah, September 22, 2024 [Screengrab/Al Jazeera]

When did Al Jazeera start reporting from the West Bank and Gaza?

Al Jazeera has been reporting in Palestine since 2000, marking Al Jazeera Arabic’s first attempt to launch a foreign bureau.

There are Al Jazeera bureaus in Ramallah and occupied East Jerusalem in the West Bank, although both have now been suspended by the Israeli government or the PA.

In 2021, Israeli forces bombed the Gaza bureau.

How many times has the PA shut Al Jazeera down?

The PA controls parts of the occupied West Bank and has suspended Al Jazeera’s operations there three times:In March 2001, the PA, led at the time by President Yasser Arafat, invaded Al Jazeera’s Ramallah offices and prevented staff from accessing the building. No official reasons were provided. However, bureau chief Walid Al-Omari said at the time that a security official had called the bureau and accused the network of airing footage “offensive” to Arafat, demanding that it be removed.

On July 15, 2009, PA security officials stormed Al Jazeera’s Ramallah offices and banned its 35 employees from broadcasting. Officials alleged the network had broadcast “false information” because late Palestinian politician Farouk Kaddoumi, in an interview, accused PA President Mahmoud Abbas of involvement in an Israeli plot to kill Arafat. The office was allowed to reopen four days later following an outcry from journalists’ rights groups.

In December 2024, Fatah, the Palestinian party that dominates the PA, banned Al Jazeera from reporting from the governorates of Jenin, Qalqilya and Tubas in the occupied West Bank, citing its coverage of clashes between the Palestinian security forces and Palestinian armed groups. Since mid-December, PA security forces have cracked down on the armed groups in what analysts say is an attempt to endear the PA to the Israelis and the United States. The crackdown has led to the killing of several civilians as well as the West Bank journalist Shatha Sabbagh, 22.

On January 2, 2025, the PA suspended all Al Jazeera broadcasts from the West Bank and placed restrictions on anyone working for the network.

How many times has Israel shut Al Jazeera down?

Israeli authorities have repeatedly attempted to muzzle Al Jazeera. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long accused the network’s coverage of “inciting violence”. The network refutes these claims as “arbitrary and hostile”.In July 2017, Netanyahu threatened to close Al Jazeera’s Jerusalem office in a Facebook post because the network covered a fallout between Palestinians and Israeli authorities over Al-Aqsa Mosque.
In May 2021, Israel bombed Al Jazeera’s Gaza office. Israeli forces gave Al Jazeera and other media organisations in the same building just one hour to evacuate the tower.
In May 2024, Al Jazeera’s occupied East Jerusalem bureau was raided and closed after the Israeli parliament passed a law allowing the government to suspend the operations of foreign media that pose a “threat”, for 45 days at a time. The ban, including a ban on Al Jazeera’s website in Israel, has been renewed multiple times and remains in place. Al Jazeera now reports from Amman, Jordan.

In September 2024, heavily armed and masked Israeli security forces raided Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah at 3am and shuttered its operations as the bureau was broadcasting live. Israeli officials alleged that the network supported “terrorism” and ordered operations to be closed for 45 days. Al Jazeera staff were forced to stand on the street and were threatened with a laser weapon during the raid.

Solidarity gathering at Al Jazeera for journalists killed in Gaza [Al Jazeera]

How many Al Jazeera journalists have been killed or injured in the West Bank and Gaza?

At least six Al Jazeera journalists have been killed by Israeli authorities in the West Bank and Gaza while on duty. In most cases, the journalists were wearing marked press vests or were in clearly marked cars.

Shireen Abu Akleh: Veteran journalist Abu Akleh was shot and killed by a bullet to the head on May 11, 2022, while reporting on an Israeli raid on Jenin, in the occupied West Bank. Despite the fact she was wearing a helmet and a vest clearly marked with “Press”, the bullet from an Israeli sniper penetrated just below her helmet. Israeli forces at first tried to blame “crossfire” from Palestinian fighters but were forced to backtrack when ample video evidence proved no Palestinian fighters were nearby. No action has been taken against the sniper. Israeli forces attacked her funeral procession attended by thousands of Palestinians paying their respects – at one point causing her coffin to slip and nearly hit the ground.

Samer Abudaqa: On December 15, 2023, an Israeli air attack injured Al Jazeera cameraman Abudaqa in Khan Younis, Gaza. Israeli officials prevented emergency vehicles from reaching him despite international pleas as he bled out over several hours.

Wael Dahdouh: Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief, whose wife, son, daughter and grandson were killed by Israeli bombs on Gaza, was filming with Abudaqa and was injured in the same attack. On January 7, 2024, Dahdouh’s son, Hamza Dahdouh, who also worked as a journalist for Al Jazeera, was killed in an attack alongside his colleague, Mustafa Thuraya.

Ismail Abu Omar: On February 13, 2024, an Israeli drone hit Abu Omar, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent, and his cameraman, Ahmad Matar, in Rafah, southern Gaza. The two men were critically injured.

Ismail al-Ghoul and Rami al-Rifi: Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent al-Ghoul was reporting with cameraman al-Rifi on July 31, 2024, when an Israeli air raid hit their car in the Shati refugee area of Gaza City. Al-Ghoul had previously been detained and severely beaten by Israeli forces in March 2024 as he covered raids on the al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

Hossam Shabat: Shabat was injured on November 20, 2024, during a second Israeli raid on a house that had just been hit, and that he was reporting on.

Ahmed al-Louh: Israel killed Al Jazeera Arabic photojournalist al-Louh on December 15, 2024, while he was covering attempts by the Palestinian Civil Defence to rescue an injured family in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp. Five others were killed.