The closure of the Al Jazeera offices in Jerusalem, after Israel has branded the network as constituting a “threat to national security”, culminates a long history of disputes, not exempt from bloody chapters of confrontation, between Qatari television and the Government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel has always distrusted Al Jazeera. Its leaders, regardless of their ideological or political affiliation, have seen in it a “well-oiled machine of incitement” to terrorism and a spokesperson for the Islamist movement Hamas. Qatari television has not inspired confidence in the traditional and traditionalist powers of other countries either. However, it is not understood, especially from a Western perspective, that Israel, a State widely defined as the only democracy in a region whose regimes are autocratic and allergic to freedom of the press, violates the right to information in this way, a basic foundation for any democracy worthy of this name. The drastic and retrograde decision to close Al Jazeera’s headquarters hides an unusual purpose of silencing the reality of the war in Gaza and is part of an extensive series of systematic attacks to silence the uncomfortable voice of the Qatari station.
The Israeli State thus joins a select club of countries with authoritarian governments that have vetoed this medium. Previously, the chain’s correspondents had been raided in contexts and circumstances similar to the current ones in Rabat, Tunisia, Cairo, Baghdad, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, New Delhi and a long list of capitals. In reality, Al Jazeera’s relationship with Israel is not much different from its history with other dictatorial regimes in the Arab world.
Founded in 1996, this chain is one of the few that have remained in Gaza after October 7. Its correspondents, deployed throughout the entire territory of the Strip, have been witnesses privileged and almost unique in an unprecedented war, and have reported at all times on the atrocities committed by the Israeli army. Since the start of the war, Israel has deliberately and repeatedly made attacks on the lives of several of these correspondents and their families. The most iconic case is that of Wael Dahdouh, head of Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Gaza, whose wife, several of his children – one of them also the channel’s journalist Hamza Dahdouh – and a grandson have been killed in Israeli attacks. .
The closure of the station’s offices by Israel is nothing more than another desperate attempt to intimidate the station, with the aim of hiding the immoral war actions of the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, whose genocidal intention is “conspicuous, and ostentatious”, in the expression of Francesca Albanese, United Nations special rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The Qatari network presented versions of events that frequently contradicted the official account of the Israeli Government. This perspective contrasts deeply with the censored information from the official media of that country.
Al Jazeera journalist in Ramallah (West Bank) Zein Basravi said one day – rightly – that the war between Israel and Palestine is “one of the main reasons why our channel exists.” This conflict is symbolic and moral capital for the station, almost a reason for being. For this reason, Al Jazeera is not considering a change in its editorial line on the situation in the Middle East under any circumstances. Israel’s closure of its premises is unlikely to affect its work. On the contrary, with acts of this nature, the station’s detractors contribute to its popularity and confirm its credibility among the masses who continue to see in it a true platform for oppressed voices in the Arab world.
Join Morning Express to follow all the news and read without limits.
Subscribe
Follow all the international information on Facebook and xor in our weekly newsletter.
.
.
_
