Bombed HQ, slain journalists: How Israel has targeted Al Jazeera
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/4/shutdown-threat-when-has-israel-targeted-al-jazeera-before
Al Jazeera has been threatened by Israeli government officials multiple times and sanctioned in the past in efforts to prevent the channel from reporting from the occupied Palestinian territory.
Several of its journalists were killed and wounded by Israeli forces in the past.
Al Jazeera remains the only major broadcaster to report live from Gaza, which has been flattened by Israeli bombing since October 7. More than 34,500 Palestinians have been killed so far.
Israel killed Al Jazeera journalist Hamza Dahdouh, the eldest son of Wael Dahdouh, Gaza bureau chief, on January 7, 2024.
On December 15, 2023, Al Jazeera Arabic cameraman Samer Abudaqa was hit by a drone attack that also injured Wael Dahdouh, in Khan Younis, and bled to death as medics were prevented from reaching him.
On October 25, 2023, Wael Dahdouh’s wife, son, daughter and grandson were killed by Israeli bombardment of a home they were seeking shelter in.
Israeli forces killed veteran Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Shireen Abu Akleh on May 11, 2022, while she was reporting from Jenin in the occupied West Bank.
On May 15, 2021, al-Jalaa Tower in Gaza City, which housed the offices of Al Jazeera and The Associated Press news agency, as well as numerous residences, was destroyed by an Israeli missile.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to shut down Al Jazeera’s Jerusalem office on July 26, 2017, commenting on the outlet’s coverage in a Facebook post, saying Al Jazeera journalists “incite violence”.
On March 12, 2008, Al Jazeera staff were sanctioned in Israel after the television covered celebrations following the release of Samir Kuntar – a member of the Palestinian Liberation Front and Hezbollah – from Israeli prison.
Several journalists of Al Jazeera have been wounded by Israeli attacks in the past.
Colleagues and family members mourn Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abu Daqa, who was killed by Israeli bombs, during his funeral in Khan Younis on December 16, 2023
Al Jazeera ban intended to please the ‘radical right’: Israeli analyst
Akiva Eldar, Israeli political analyst and contributor to Haaretz newspaper, spoke to Al Jazeera about the decision to ban the network from Israel. He said although Al Jazeera may be banned from TV sets, the government cannot impose the ban on the “cyber-network”.
He said he did not know to what extent the Israeli government would enact the ban on correspondents and interviewees, saying that after the interview, when he gets home, there may “be a police officer waiting for me”.
He said the ban was intended to please “the radical right” in Israel and would not be the “last step” by the far-right government.
Israeli networks that criticise the government, including Haaretz, may also be subjected to a ban in the future, Eldar said.
Palestinians in Gaza see Israel’s ban of Al Jazeera as a ‘desperate move’
This is the last episode in what seems to be the suppression of any criticism of what’s going on on the ground across the Gaza Strip.
We’ve documented the atrocities, the genocidal acts, the spread of famine and acts that go against international human rights law and against all the international norms in terms of conducting war or warfare, and that is something that did not really sit well with the Israeli government.
The ban is largely perceived by people here as a way to suppress this voice that has amplified the voices of the oppressed and amplified the voices of people under occupation to the outside world.
People see it as a desperate move to prevent fair coverage of what’s going on on the ground.
More than 50 attacks against Al Jazeera journalists since October 7
Walid Omary, Al Jazeera’s bureau chief in Jerusalem, says there have been more than 50 attacks against Al Jazeera journalists since October 7.
Al Jazeera’s Gaza correspondent, Wael Dahdouh, lost his wife Amneh, 15-year-old son Mohammed, seven-year-old daughter Sham and his one-year-old grandson Adam in an Israeli air raid on October 25. In January, he lost his son, 27-year-old Hamza.
Mohamed Abu al-Qumsan, a broadcast engineer with Al Jazeera’s bureau in Gaza, lost 19 family members, including his father and two sisters, in Israeli air raids on the Jabalia refugee camp on October 31.
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