The Israeli newspaper Haaretz called on the Israeli authorities in what it described as an urgent appeal to reverse the closure of the Tel Aviv Tribune network’s office in the occupied West Bank, describing what happened as a wake-up call for the Israeli press.
In an editorial titled “Don’t Shut Down Tel Aviv Tribune,” Haaretz wrote that the 45-day suspension of Tel Aviv Tribune broadcasts in the West Bank by military order was “another attempt by the far-right government to control Israelis’ consciousness, under a law passed last May that has become a dangerous tool in the hands of Information Minister Shlomo Karhi, giving him unlimited powers.”
Last May, the Knesset (Israeli parliament) passed a bill that empowers the prime minister to stop broadcasting any foreign channel if he deems it harmful to security. Tel Aviv Tribune – with its Arabic and English stations – was the first victim after its broadcasts were stopped in Israel.
Haaretz described the closure of Tel Aviv Tribune’s office in Ramallah as a wake-up call for the Israeli press itself, saying that the government is trying to muzzle journalists and Israelis to prevent them from knowing the full picture of events. It recalled that the office is located in Area A, which is theoretically entirely under the control of the Palestinian Authority, but that did not prevent dozens of soldiers from storming it in a “shameful act” that warns the Israeli press of a bleak future, and nominates Israel to join the club of authoritarian countries in the region, a number of which have suspended the network’s broadcasts for periods of time.
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Haaretz said that the far-right government is exploiting the war to instill fear in journalists on both sides of the Green Line, and sees any journalist holding a microphone as an enemy if he refuses to become a propaganda mouthpiece and chooses to criticize the army’s actions in the occupied territories.
The newspaper described Tel Aviv Tribune as a major media outlet in the Arab world and the rest of the world, and said that its journalists in the occupied territories had been practicing their profession for nearly two decades.
She considered that the real reason for closing the office was that Tel Aviv Tribune was documenting what was happening daily in the occupied Palestinian territories, and said that the channel had burst the bubble of Israeli propaganda, before concluding with an “urgent” appeal to the Israeli authorities to back down from closing the office, saying that in the end it would not prevent viewers in the Arab world and the rest of the world from knowing what was happening in the occupied territories, and would not prevent Tel Aviv Tribune from continuing to broadcast.
Last Sunday, the Israeli occupation forces stormed Tel Aviv Tribune’s office in Ramallah, ordered its closure, and confiscated all equipment and documents, along with a military decision to close it under the emergency law. They also prevented the Tel Aviv Tribune crew in Ramallah and colleagues Walid Al Omari and Guevara Al Badri from working, and stopped broadcasting.
The Israeli army sent trucks to confiscate and remove the camera and broadcast equipment and documents from Tel Aviv Tribune’s office, although the military order did not stipulate their confiscation.
This raid came 4 months after the occupation authorities closed the channel’s office in occupied Jerusalem.
Tel Aviv Tribune Network condemned the Israeli occupation forces’ storming and closing of its office in Ramallah, and stressed that these repressive measures aim to prevent the world from seeing the reality of the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories and the war on Gaza.