The Associated Press reported that it complied with Israel’s military censorship rules, including restrictions on broadcasting troop movements that could put soldiers at risk, and that the video mainly showed smoke rising over Gaza. The company said officials had not previously flagged the location of its cameras in southern Israel as problematic, but they noted that its images had been broadcast live on Al Jazeera.
The report also stated that the Israeli authorities issued a verbal order last week to shut down the live broadcast, but the Israeli authorities did not comply.
As a well-known news agency, the Associated Press delivers its content to subscribers around the world.
Knesset opposition leader Yair Lapid blasted the Communications Ministry for confiscating AP equipment, calling the move “crazy.”
“This is not Al Jazeera. This is an American media outlet that has won “dozens of Pulitzer Prizes,” he said. “This administration is acting as if it is determined to ensure at all costs that Israel will be ostracized around the world.”
Ms Easton said Israeli authorities should return AP’s equipment so it can resume live broadcasts and “continue to provide this important visual journalism to thousands of media outlets around the world”.
In Israel, Al Jazeera’s Arabic-language reporting has often been criticized for amplifying Hamas’s views.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have called the network a “mouthpiece” for Hamas, which led the Oct. 7 attack on Israel from Gaza that sparked the war. That day, Al Jazeera repeatedly reported statements by Hamas officials calling for a violent uprising in the West Bank.
Al Jazeera said Israel’s decision to close its operations in the country violated the “fundamental right to information.” It claimed it had not breached the standards of professional news media.
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club, which represents Israeli and Palestinian journalists working for international news organizations, called the seizure of AP equipment an “outrageous” decision that prevents the AP from “providing vital images of northern Gaza to all other media around the world.” picture”. ”.
“Israel’s move today is a slippery slope,” it said in a statement on Tuesday. “Israel could prevent other international news agencies from providing live footage from Gaza. It could also allow Israel to block media coverage of almost any news event on vague security grounds.
Under the new foreign news media law, if the prime minister deems a foreign news media to be “concretely damaging” to Israel’s national security, the government can temporarily close its offices, confiscate its equipment, remove it from Israeli cable and satellite TV providers and block access to hosting Any channel online platform on an Israeli server or owned by an Israeli entity.
Jonathan Rice and Gaya Gupta provided reporting for this article.
