Image source, Shlomo Karhi
- Author, Harrison Jones
- Role, BBC News
Israel claims to have raided a studio used by Al Jazeera in Nazareth, in the latest clash between the country and the channel.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi linked media company to Hamas and said equipment was confiscated Thursday morning in the northern Israeli city.
Al Jazeera has already called claims that it was a threat to Israeli security a “dangerous and ridiculous lie”.
The incident comes after Israeli police targeted one of the channel’s offices in occupied East Jerusalem on Sunday.
Relations between the channel and the Israeli government have long been strained, but deteriorated significantly after the outbreak of the Gaza war.
With foreign journalists banned from entering the Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera staff based in the region are some of the only journalists able to cover the war on the ground.
In April, the Israeli parliament approved a law giving the government the power to ban the broadcast of television channels, including Al Jazeera.
On Sunday, the Israeli government decided to suspend the channel’s operations in the country, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying his cabinet had agreed to the closure as the war in Gaza continues.
On Thursday, Mr. Karhi posted a photo on X, formerly known as Twitter, appearing to show Israeli forces outside a building.
He said he had “ordered a search” in “the Nazareth studio where Al Jazeera journalists were broadcasting”.
“Currently, inspectors from the Ministry of Communications and the Northern District Police Tactical Division are confiscating their equipment,” Karhi added.
“Israel will not allow Hamas to broadcast from here.”
The BBC has contacted Al Jazeera for comment.
The network has previously denied any links to Hamas and said Sunday that it “vehemently rejects the allegations presented by Israeli authorities suggesting that professional media standards have been violated.”
Police also raided the channel’s office at the Ambassador Hotel in occupied East Jerusalem on Sunday.
In a statement released the same day, Al Jazeera said it had strongly condemned and denounced “this criminal act which violates human rights and the fundamental right to access to information”.
The channel also accused Israel of “permanently suppressing” press freedom, which “constitutes a violation of international and humanitarian law,” as well as directly targeting and killing journalists.
Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group’s attack on southern Israel on October 7, in which about 1,200 people were killed and another 252 taken hostage, according to Israeli counts.
Since then, more than 34,780 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
Israel has been widely condemned for the number of journalists killed since the start of the war, but the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) say it only targets militants.
News Source : www.bbc.com
Gn world
