Silencing Dissent: Israel’s Raid on Al Jazeera and the Future of Press Freedom
Iara Modarelli
21st Century Wire
Israeli soldiers raided Al Jazeera’s Ramallah bureau today, issuing a 45-day closure order amid a crackdown on journalists covering the conflict. This action aligns with efforts to silence critical reporting on Israel’s military actions and human rights violations in the occupied territories. As Al Jazeera and other dissenting journalists face increasing pressure, today’s raid highlights a dangerous threat to press freedom and raises urgent questions about the future of journalism in conflict zones.
Heavily armed and masked Israeli soldiers forcefully entered the building housing Al Jazeera’s bureau and handed the 45-day closure order to the network’s West Bank bureau chief, Walid al-Omari, early on Sunday. Al-Omari said the Israeli military’s closure order accused the network of “incitement to and support of terrorism”.
Al Jazeera’s Jivara Budeiri added that Israeli soldiers confiscated their cameras and said she feared the military might try to destroy Al Jazeera’s archives, which are stored in the office.
This is the moment when Israeli soldiers invaded Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah, stealing our equipment and attempting to silence the truth. But our brave colleagues stood firm in the face of this aggression, defending the right to report. Journalism is not a crime! pic.twitter.com/NIBd8OUHgU
— Mohamed Moawad (@moawady) September 22, 2024
Al Jazeera has condemned the actions and describes them as part of a systematic effort to silence journalists and suppress the truth. Palestinian groups and international media watchdogs have also called the raid a blatant attack on press freedom.
“Al Jazeera has been accused of harming Israeli security, of inciting against Israeli soldiers, but all we’ve been doing is reporting on what the Israeli military has been doing to people in the occupied Palestinian territories, and if they stop doing it, we can stop reporting it.”
Speaking over the phone from Ramallah, Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim said the West Bank raid and the closure order come “as no surprise” after the earlier ban on reporting from inside Israel. The crackdown on the network coincides with an escalation of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, following 11 months of relentless bombardment and violence.
Today’s raid is part of a broader trend of suppressing critical media coverage of the conflict. Outlets like Al Jazeera have become targets for their ongoing reporting, which has highlighted countless violations of international laws and norms including the targeted killings of journalists and their families, settler violence, home demolitions, airstrikes, raids, and assassinations.
Due to the ongoing coverage by Al Jazeera and other networks, which expose these war crimes committed with full U.S. backing and funding, Israel’s global reputation is at a historic low.
U.S Involvement in Censoring Al Jazeera
Today’s raid on Al Jazeera’s Ramallah office is by no means an isolated event. Rather, it fits within broader efforts by both Israel and the U.S., to suppress the network’s coverage and underscores Israel and its allies ongoing efforts to control the narrative surrounding the conflict and diminish the visibility of their military actions in the occupied territories.
In October 2023, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken requested that Qatar “tone down” Al Jazeera’s Arabic reporting of the conflict and asked the Qatari government to “change its public posture towards Hamas” and to “turn down the volume on Al Jazeera’s coverage because it is full of anti-Israel incitement.”
The U.S.’s attempts to influence Al Jazeera follow a history of hostility towards press freedom, particularly relevant after the persecution of whistleblowers and journalists like Julian Assange and the ongoing efforts to silence WikiLeaks after it made headlines for exposing classified U.S. government documents. Media organizations and individuals who expose and publish inconvenient truths face pressure, censorship, or legal action.
Israel’s Targeting of Al Jazeera Journalists and Their Families
Shortly after Antony Blinken’s request, Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief Wael Al-Dahdouh suffered an unimaginable tragedy when his 7-year-old daughter, 15-year-old son and wife were murdered in an Israeli airstrike. Their home was targeted in the Nuseirat refugee camp, where Wael’s family had fled to in search of refuge after being displaced by ongoing bombardment in their neighbourhood.
Just months later, Al-Dahdouh faced further loss when his eldest son and journalist Hamza Dahdouh and colleague Mustafa Thuraya were killed in a missile strike in Khan Younis, Gaza, while travelling in a supposed “safe area”. Al Jazeera correspondents reported that Hamza and Mustafa’s vehicle was targeted as they were trying to interview civilians displaced by previous bombings.
In December, Samer Abudaqa, a cameraman for Al Jazeera’s was struck by an airstrike at the Farhana school in Khan Younis and left to bleed to death. Emergency workers were blocked by the Israeli military from reaching the site despite multiple contacts writing to the military for approval.
BREAKING: Israel killed Palestinian journalist Samer Abudaqa and injured reporter Wael Dahdouh while they were covering Israel’s bombing of a school in Khan Younis, Gaza.
Israel blocked ambulances from reaching Samer for 6 hours, leaving him bleeding in the school without care. pic.twitter.com/rnfosPxXab
— IMEU (@theIMEU) December 15, 2023
These attacks on the press are widely seen as deliberate attempts to send a message and punish anyone who dares to cover Israel’s human rights violations in the Gaza Strip.
A Broader Pattern
Israel’s actions against Al Jazeera and other media outlets are not new but part of a broader pattern of press suppression in the region. In 2021, the Israeli military bombed a Gaza media tower housing Al Jazeera’s offices, a key location for international press coverage of the conflict which disrupted the media’s ability to report on the situation in Gaza.
On the 11th of May, 2022, journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot and killed in cold blood while covering the Israeli occupation forces storming of Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. Despite Abu Akleh wearing a clearly marked press jacket, Israel initially denied responsibility, sparking international outrage. Further investigations pointed to her death as a targeted attack on press freedom, yet, to this day, no one has been held accountable for her murder.
One year ago today, an Israeli soldier fatally shot Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in the head. To this day, no one has been held accountable.
We speak to @sharifkouddous, of the film “The Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh,” about the fight for #JusticeforShireen. pic.twitter.com/0KVM7I02Ew
— Democracy Now! (@democracynow) May 11, 2023
The risks for journalists in Palestine are greater than ever. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) latest report, at least 116 journalists and media workers have been killed since the genocide began, making this the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992.
Al Jazeera talks to the president of the Committee to Protect Journalists, Jodie Ginsberg, on Israel’s alleged deliberate attacks on journalists in Gaza and Lebanon ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/cMSISpOnjF
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) November 21, 2023
Despite today’s raid in Ramallah, Al Jazeera has reaffirmed their commitment to covering the conflict and vows to continue reporting despite ongoing censorship challenges. Today marks a significant point in the ongoing battle for press freedom in conflict zones and raises serious questions about the balance between security and the role of a free press.
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