Because of "Al Jazeera" Israel stops broadcasting "Associated Press" to cover the Gaza war

Tuesday, the American Associated Press denounced the Israeli government’s decision to stop its live broadcast service from the south of the country to cover events in the Gaza Strip, noting that the government based this on “a law that prohibits providing the Qatari Al Jazeera channel with pictures.”

The Associated Press condemned in a statement "in the strongest terms the actions of the Israeli government in stopping our long-term live broadcast."

The US agency also denounced the "arbitrary use" of the new foreign streaming law that prohibits the provision of images to Al Jazeera.

The statement explained that the Israeli authorities seized the agency's equipment and scenes captured in northern Gaza under the pretext of the "new media" law, which allows the closure of foreign media outlets.

The Associated Press urged Israel to immediately enable it to continue providing its "important services to thousands of media outlets around the world."

She confirmed that "the Qatari satellite channel (Al Jazeera) is among thousands of customers who receive live video broadcasts from the agency and other news organizations."

According to the same statement, “Officials from the Israeli Ministry of Communications arrived at the agency’s location in the southern settlement of Sderot on Tuesday afternoon, confiscated the equipment, and handed it a decision signed by Communications Minister Shlomo Karei, claiming that it violated the country’s new foreign broadcast law.”

The agency reported that shortly before the equipment was seized, it was broadcasting a general view of northern Gaza, stressing that it adheres to Israeli military censorship rules, which prohibit broadcasting details such as troop movements that could expose soldiers to danger.

At the beginning of last April, the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) approved, with a majority of 71 members out of 120, and 10 opposed, in the second and third reading, a draft law presented by Communications Minister Shlomo Karei, allowing foreign media to stop broadcasting in the country, according to what the Haaretz newspaper reported. “Hebrew.

The law stipulates that “if the Prime Minister is convinced that a foreign channel is harming the country, he can take action against it,” according to the Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

The law allows the Minister of Communications, after the approval of the Prime Minister, to issue an order to stop broadcasting a foreign channel if he is convinced that its content actually harms state security.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza, leaving more than 115,000 Palestinians martyred and wounded, most of them children and women, and about 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of children and the elderly.

Israel continues the war on Gaza despite the issuance of a resolution by the UN Security Council to stop the fighting immediately, and despite the fact that the International Court of Justice asked it to take immediate measures to prevent acts of “genocide” and improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​