Israel is using the war to silence journalists. Just see how it hounded Al Jazeera

Israeli soldiers entering Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah to issue a 45-day closure order on 22 September 2024, while the station was on air

The Haaretz lead editorial on 26 September 2024:

Sunday’s closure of the offices of the satellite news network Al Jazeera in Ramallah is another stage in the battle for government control over Israelis’ minds. What began as a bill that was passed in May has turned into dangerous, unlimited power in the hands of the government and Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi.

The goal: to silence, to compromise freedom of the press and to guarantee that Israelis are exposed to a partial view of reality. The law allows the government to stop the broadcasts in Israel of a foreign media outlet if the prime minister is convinced that the content that it airs causes concrete harm to national security.

The Al Jazeera bureau in Ramallah is in Area A of the West Bank, which according to the Oslo Accords is under full Palestinian control. That didn’t prevent dozens of soldiers from raiding the offices, including the office of bureau chief Walid al-Omari, who was served with a closure order. That is a shameful sight, a preview of freedom of expression in Israel in the years to come. With this, Israel joins the club of the Arab autocracies that closed Al Jazeera for periods of time in order to end media freedom in their countries.

Al Jazeera is a key media outlet in the Arab world and an important source of information for the public throughout the world. The most veteran Al Jazeera journalists in the West Bank have been doing their jobs for more than two decades. Omari established the Ramallah office and trained journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed while reporting from Jenin.

What proof do the military or the government have for the claim that the work of these journalists jeopardizes national security? Is it the fact that every day these journalists document the events in the occupied territories and pierce the Israeli hasbara bubble that obscures reality?

In the shadow of the war, the government continues to sow fear in journalists on both sides of the Green Line. To the far-right government, a journalist with a microphone who refuses to be a government mouthpiece and instead criticizes the actions of the military in the territories is presumed to be an enemy.

Freedom of expression is the most precious asset of journalists throughout the world. The government’s attack on freedom of expression through its closure of the network is dangerous. Today it’s Al Jazeera, tomorrow it could be a different media outlet.

Even though closing the local bureau won’t prevent Arabic speakers in Israel and abroad from knowing what is happening in the territories – the network will continue to publish the information, even if not from Ramallah – this is an urgent and desperate plea: Do not shut down the bureau; let its journalists do their job.

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