News
Israel reverses seizure of Associated Press camera footage after intense backlash
Léo Correa/AP
Smoke rises into the sky after the explosion in the Gaza Strip, seen from southern Israel on Tuesday, May 21, 2024.
CNN –
In a sharp reversal, Israel said on Tuesday it would return cameras and broadcasting equipment it had seized from the Associated Press in the southern Israeli city of Sderot on Tuesday, after the move sparked a swift reaction from authorities and groups. US press.
In a statement on Tuesday, Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said he “ordered the equipment to be returned to the AP news agency” because the “Israeli Ministry of Defense requested that it re-examine the issue of transmissions from locations sensitive and their effect on the risk of our forces.
Earlier in the day, the Associated Press said Israeli authorities turned off its camera’s live broadcast of Gaza and seized its equipment, in what it called an “abusive use by the Israeli government of Israel’s new foreign broadcasting law.” country”.
“The Associated Press condemns in the strongest terms the actions of the Israeli government,” the nonprofit news collective said in a statement. “We ask the Israeli authorities to return our equipment and allow us to immediately reinstate our live broadcast so that we can continue to provide this important visual journalism to thousands of media outlets around the world.”
Karhi said the AP’s feed was cut off and equipment seized because the AP was providing content to Al Jazeera after the Qatar-based network was banned in the country.
The Israeli military regularly classifies areas around Gaza as “closed military zones,” restricting movement there. The AP’s live broadcast provided insight into the actions in Gaza, where no independent journalists can operate due to Israeli and Egyptian restrictions on entry into the strip.
The Israeli government’s decision to return broadcast equipment to the AP came after the White House expressed concerns to the Netanyahu-led government, a White House official told CNN.
“As soon as we learned of the reports, the White House and State Department immediately engaged with the Israeli government at high levels to express our serious concerns and ask them to reverse this action, which they have publicly committed to do,” he said. the National. Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson told CNN. “The free press is an essential pillar of democracy and members of the media, including the AP, do vital work that must be respected.”
The Associated Press applauded the Israeli Communications Ministry’s decision to return its equipment, but said it remains concerned about the law at the center of the action.
“While we are pleased with this development, we remain concerned about the Israeli government’s use of the foreign broadcast law and the ability of independent journalists to operate freely in Israel.”
Previously, the Foreign Press Association expressed its alarm over the closure and confiscation.
“Israel’s actions today are a slippery slope. Israel could prevent other international news agencies from providing live footage from Gaza. It could also allow Israel to block media coverage of virtually any news event for vague security reasons,” the FPA said in a statement.
The change comes weeks later Israel closed Al Jazeera’s operations in the country, raiding the media outlet’s offices and seizing its communications equipment, drew swift condemnation from the United Nations and human rights groups over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s moves to restrict freedom of the press.
The law passed by Israel’s parliament last month gives the prime minister and communications minister the authority to “temporarily” order the closure of foreign networks operating in Israel that are considered a threat to national security. News organizations may be banned for a period of 45 days, although the government may renew the ban for additional 45-day periods. The law itself is also technically temporary and will expire on July 31 or earlier if a war-related emergency declaration is canceled.
Several legal challenges to the law are pending in Israeli courts. Israel’s Supreme Court recently refused to issue an emergency injunction against the law put forward by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, although a hearing on the challenge is expected to be held by June 6.
The group stated in its petition presented at the beginning of April that the law “violates freedom of expression, the right to information and freedom of the press” and “tramples the principles of the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary, since includes a “substitution clause” that prevents the court from overturning an illegal decision.” Another legal challenge was filed in the Tel Aviv District Court.
In an earlier statement, Karhi accused the AP of violating its new law by providing a feed to its thousands of news clients, including Al Jazeera.
The confiscated equipment included a camera, tripod, two microphones and transmission equipment, the statement said.
Press freedom group Reporters Without Borders condemned Israel’s decision to seize the equipment.
“After having banned Al Jazeera, Israel is attacking the PA,” he said in a statement. “RSF denounces the seizure of the media outlet’s camera and the interruption of the continuous transmission filming Gaza under the pretext that these images are provided, among others, to Al Jazeera.”
The Israeli Journalists Union also condemned the act, calling it “a serious threat to press freedom and democracy.”
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid also denounced the seizure as “an act of madness”.
“This is not Al Jazeera, it is an American media outlet that has won 53 Pulitzer Prizes,” he said in a statement. “This government behaves as if it has decided to guarantee at any cost that Israel will be excluded from the entire world. They went crazy.