Israeli forces raided the offices of Al Jazeera, a Qatar-based media outlet, in the Palestinian West Bank city of Ramallah, and stopped the broadcast of the television channel. News Reuters.
Al Jazeera television reported on Sunday (September 22) that Israeli forces had ordered the channel to stop broadcasting for 45 days following an attack on its offices in the city of Ramallah.
Al Jazeera broadcast live footage of Israeli forces attacking their offices and an Al Jazeera staffer being ordered by the military to shut down the channel. The broadcast was interrupted shortly thereafter.
In a statement, the Palestinian Journalists’ Association condemned Israel’s move, saying the arbitrary military decision is considered a new blow against the work of journalism and the media, where the media has consistently exposed the occupation forces’ crimes against the Palestinian people.
Last May, Israeli authorities also raided a Jerusalem hotel room used as Al Jazeera’s office. Earlier, Israeli authorities decided to shut down Al Jazeera’s local operations, claiming threats to national security.