{"id":46773,"date":"2024-05-09T10:23:54","date_gmt":"2024-05-09T10:23:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/09\/israels-shutdown-of-al-jazeera-highlights-long-running-tensions\/"},"modified":"2024-05-09T10:23:54","modified_gmt":"2024-05-09T10:23:54","slug":"israels-shutdown-of-al-jazeera-highlights-long-running-tensions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/09\/israels-shutdown-of-al-jazeera-highlights-long-running-tensions\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s Shutdown of Al Jazeera Highlights Long-Running Tensions"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/07\/multimedia\/07aljazeera-01-fkwq\/07aljazeera-01-fkwq-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Israel\u2019s Shutdown of Al Jazeera Highlights Long-Running Tensions\" title=\"Israel\u2019s Shutdown of Al Jazeera Highlights Long-Running Tensions\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When Israel ordered Al Jazeera on Sunday to shut down operations there, the network had a reporter covering a government meeting in West Jerusalem, another in an East Jerusalem hotel room, a third in northern Israel to cover clashes on the border with Lebanon and a fourth in Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But the cameras stopped rolling when Walid al-Omari, the network\u2019s bureau chief in Ramallah, in the West Bank, ordered all of them to go home. Israeli authorities descended on a room used by Al Jazeera in the Ambassador Hotel in East Jerusalem, confiscating broadcast equipment. Israeli television and internet providers cut off its channels and blocked its websites, though people were still able to find it online.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Al Jazeera, the influential Arab news network, says it will continue reporting and broadcasting from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. But its departure from Israel marks a new low in its long-strained history with a country that much of Al Jazeera\u2019s audience in the Arab world and beyond sees as an aggressor and an occupier.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/live\/2024\/05\/05\/world\/israel-gaza-war-hamas\/israels-prime-minister-has-had-a-tense-relationship-with-the-network?smid=url-share\" title=\"\">shutdown order<\/a>, which lasts 45 days and can be renewed, was a break long in the making. Mr. al-Omari said that soon after the Israel-Hamas war began in October, the network stopped using an office in West Jerusalem, saying that far-right Israelis had used intimidation tactics against the staff there.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The network has played a major role in amplifying stories of the killing and suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, heightening worldwide outrage at Israel\u2019s conduct. Many defenders of Al Jazeera argue that its work is so strong that Israel wants to intimidate and censor it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But its focus on bloodshed in Gaza has also generated controversy, with some Arab analysts saying it cheerleads for what it portrays as legitimate armed resistance to Israel, and to present commentary from Hamas officials and fighters with little critical pushback. The network is partially funded and controlled by the government of Qatar, which allows Hamas political leaders to live and operate in its country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That makes it a compelling target for critics in Israel and beyond who say it is, at best, presenting a one-sided view of the war. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Al Jazeera of inciting violence against Israel and harming Israel\u2019s security.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe knew it was a question of time,\u201d Mr. al-Omari said of the shutdown in an interview on Tuesday. Israel\u2019s government, he said, had long pursued what he called \u201ca war against Al Jazeera.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<h2 class=\"css-9ycfei eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-3c782454\">Emotionally charged reporting<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel and the devastating Israeli military campaign in Gaza that followed, Al Jazeera has relied on its network of journalists in the territory \u2014 the most robust of any news outlet \u2014 to produce a steady stream of harrowing and emotionally charged reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Its broadcasts about Gaza\u2019s spiraling hunger crisis fill the screens in many Arab households. Its videos of agonized parents clutching their dead children and bodies being pulled from the rubble flood social media.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">With other foreign news media <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/01\/30\/world\/middleeast\/gaza-war-palestinian-journalists.html\" title=\"\">blocked by Israel<\/a> and Egypt from gaining access to Gaza, no outlet with Al Jazeera\u2019s global audience can match the breadth of its coverage there.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"> Al Jazeera has seven correspondents stretching from north to southern Gaza, according to its managing editor, Mohamed Moawad, along with a large team of camera people, producers and others. He said in an interview that Israel was \u201ctrying to delegitimize our coverage because we are the only organization covering it from inside.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThey want to conceal what\u2019s happening in Gaza,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Shuruq Asad, spokeswoman for the Palestinian Journalists\u2019 Syndicate, said that without Al Jazeera\u2019s journalists in Gaza, \u201cwe couldn\u2019t have known anything, and they have paid for this with their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cUnfortunately our badges, vests and helmets in Gaza did not provide any protection for us,\u201d Hisham Zaqout, an Al Jazeera correspondent in Gaza, wrote in a WhatsApp message.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Israeli authorities did not specify their reasoning for barring Al Jazeera except to say that it harmed Israel\u2019s security. But given that the network can continue broadcasting from Gaza and that its mainly Arab audience can still view the channel using virtual private networks or YouTube, many Israeli commentators called the move symbolic at most.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, which appealed the order with Israel\u2019s High Court, said its limited practical effect \u201csuggests that it was made to shut down critical voices and to mark Arab media and its viewers as a fifth column.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<h2 class=\"css-9ycfei eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-1556bf1a\">Condemnation by rights activists<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Experts who track the network say its mix of searing footage from Gaza and on-air commentary echoing many of Hamas\u2019s claims boosts support for the group\u2019s actions, not just sympathy for Palestinians. That applies especially to its Arabic-language channel; it also has channels in English and other languages.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe fact that it just gives the primary platform to Hamas, Hamas officials, Hamas spokesmen, et cetera, the fact that it cuts off any voices that are critical of Hamas \u2014 it has basically made it such that on Al Jazeera, Hamas is really the spokesman for the Palestinian people,\u201d said Ghaith al-Omari, a Palestinian affairs analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former adviser to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Al Jazeera rejects accusations that it is a mouthpiece for Hamas, saying in a statement that Israel\u2019s ban is a \u201ccriminal act\u201d that violates \u201cthe basic right to access of information.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The closure of Al Jazeera\u2019s operations has added fuel to allegations, denied by Israel, that Israel is attempting to hide the devastation in Gaza.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIsrael is trying to control the narrative, and it is trying to deprive even the Israeli audience from seeing the atrocities in Gaza,\u201d said Jamil Dakwar, a law professor at New York University and a founding attorney of Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Sunday\u2019s decision drew <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/live\/2024\/05\/05\/world\/israel-gaza-war-hamas\/media-experts-condemn-israels-move-against-al-jazeera?smid=url-share\" title=\"\">condemnation<\/a> from rights advocates.<span class=\"css-8l6xbc evw5hdy0\">  <\/span>A spokesman for the U.S. State Department, Matthew Miller, said on Monday, \u201cWe think Al Jazeera ought to be able to operate in Israel, as they operate in other countries.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Analysts who follow Al Jazeera\u2019s coverage say the network differentiates itself from other Arabic-language channels bybroadcasting Israeli officials\u2019 news conferences and inviting Israeli analysts and officials to appear on air.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But in general, Al Jazeera tends to embrace views held by many Arabs, broadcasting analysis \u201cthat glorifies the act of resistance\u201d against what it portrays as \u201caggression by the occupation settler army,\u201d that is, Israel, said Mahmoud Khalil, a media studies professor at Cairo University.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He added that Al Jazeera\u2019s military analysts often exaggerated Palestinian battlefield successes and downplayed Israeli gains.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. al-Omari, of the Washington Institute, said the network had also elided the worst of the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, helping to give rise to persistent denials among some Arabs of some of the bloodiest acts that Palestinian attackers had committed there.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Early in the war, Al Jazeera posted to social media a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/watch\/?mibextid=oFDknk&amp;v=1329762421237238&amp;rdid=DqLdFX8ObThyrpjI\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">video<\/a> released by Hamas that purported to show its assailants <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.net\/news\/2023\/10\/13\/%D8%B4%D8%A7%D9%87%D8%AF-%D9%81%D9%8A%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%88-%D9%8A%D8%B8%D9%87%D8%B1-%D8%AA%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%84-%D9%85%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%AA%D9%84%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%85-%D9%85%D8%B9\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">taking care of children<\/a> at an Israeli kibbutz they had attacked on Oct. 7, leaving out the context: They had killed the children\u2019s mother. It attracted 1.4 million views on Facebook.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Asked about the video, Mr. Moawad said that the network had also aired live footage of an Israeli military spokesman saying that Hamas attackers had taken women and children from the kibbutz.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe air and broadcast footage from both sides without editing to ensure our viewers are up-to-date with the developments and have heard both sides,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Al Jazeera has been banned in other countries, including Arab states who accused the network of biased reporting and support for Islamist political movements \u2014 some of them violent \u2014 that those countries have suppressed. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For many Arabs wary of Islamist groups, Al Jazeera\u2019s amplification of Hamas voices is a turnoff, said Mr. Khalil, of Cairo University.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Asad, of the Palestinian Journalists\u2019 Syndicate, said that imbalances or omissions in coverage should not be grounds for a ban, which critics of the decision said put Israel in the same category as other authoritarian governments that have cracked down on unfriendly news media.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cNo one has the right to close Israeli television or to silence CNN or to silence anybody,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Reporting was contributed by <!-- -->Adam Rasgon<!-- --> and <!-- -->Johnatan Reiss<!-- --> from Jerusalem, <!-- -->Emad Mekay<!-- --> from Cairo, and <!-- -->Iyad Abuheweila<!-- --> from Istanbul.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/09\/world\/middleeast\/al-jazeera-israel-shutdown.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When Israel ordered Al Jazeera on Sunday to shut down operations there, the network had a reporter covering a government meeting in West Jerusalem, another in an East Jerusalem hotel room, a third in northern Israel to cover clashes on the border with Lebanon and a fourth in Tel Aviv. But the cameras stopped rolling [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/07\/multimedia\/07aljazeera-01-fkwq\/07aljazeera-01-fkwq-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5360,5558,21358,47574,39334,571],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46773"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46773"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46775,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46773\/revisions\/46775"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}