Israeli forces shut down Al Jazeera Ramallah bureau, citing ties to terror
Israeli soldiers entered the Ramallah offices of Al Jazeera and shut down the bureau over its support for Palestinian terror in the middle of a live broadcast on Sunday, the first time security forces have acted against the Qatari network in the Palestinian Authority.
Al Jazeera’s Ramallah bureau Photo by: Hillel Maeir/TPS
“After much pressure … security forces this morning raided Al Jazeera‘s main offices in Judea and Samaria—the mouthpiece of Hamas and Hezbollah—following the order to close the station,” Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi tweeted, adding, “We will continue to fight enemy channels and ensure the safety of our brave soldiers.”
Israel shut down the Qatari network’s news operations on May 5, revoking the network’s press credentials, confiscating transmitters and blocking its websites. The shutdown is not permanent but is subject to renewal every 45 days. The Knesset is currently advancing legislation that would extend the ban to renewable 90-day intervals.
Efforts to ban Al Jazeera gained momentum in February after reporter Mohamed Washah was exposed as a Hamas commander. Soldiers recovered his laptop in northern Gaza and discovered he played a prominent role in the terror group’s anti-armour missile systems.
Files seized and released by the Israel Defence Forces in August also confirmed that Al Jazeera reporter Ismail al-Ghoul was a member of Hamas. The file, dated 2021 and containing information about thousands of other Hamas terrorists, identified al-Ghoul as an engineer in Hamas’s Gaza City Brigade. According to the IDF, he went on to become a member of the terror group’s elite Nukhba force and participated in the October 7 attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border.
The 27-year-old Al-Ghoul was killed in an Israeli airstrike along with Al Jazeera cameraman Ramy El-Rify in August.
The army said al-Ghoul also instructed terrorists how to film and share video footage of attacks on Israeli soldiers.
In October, Al Jazeera was accused of endangering Israeli soldiers by exposing details of where forces were assembling, prompting the Cabinet to approve emergency regulations to temporarily shut down Al Jazeera operations in Israel.
The Tel Aviv District Court in July accepted the state’s request to ban the Qatari network, saying its broadcasts were “a real violation of state security.”
At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 97 remaining hostages, more than 30 have been declared dead. Hamas has also been holding captive two Israeli civilians since 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014.
