Israel Officials Seize AP Broadcast Equipment To Halt Its Live Feed Of Gaza

blueapples on X

As Israel's war in Gaza extends southward by turning Rafah into the focal point of the conflict, the Netanyahu government has also amplified its concurrent operations to control the flow of information coming out of the warzone. In keeping on that trajectory, Israeli officials accused the Associated Press of violating recently passed legislation that has allowed the country to ban international news outlets under the pretense of protecting national security interests. A new censorship law was passed in April, aimed at banning the Qatari-owned Al Jazeera network whose operations ceased in Israel in early May after police raided the broadcasters office in occupied East Jerusalem. Al Jazeera rebuked claims it was a threat to Israel's national security, calling the allegation a "dangerous and ridiculous lie", echoing forewarnings that the new legislation will be used to censor opponents of the war. That ominous portent proved to be prescient for the Associated Press, who became the latest news organization to fall prey to Israel's censorship complex after being accused of providing images to Al Jazeera.

The basis of Israel's claim stemmed from Al Jazeera using a live video feed of the Gaza Strip that the AP provides thousands of its clients access to. In addition to shutting down the live feed, Israeli authorities from the country's Communications Ministry seized AP broadcasting equipment which limited the operations of their office in the town of Sderot in southern Israel in the western Negev region of the country that lies just a mile outside of the Gaza Strip. Ministry officials served the AP with a notice signed by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi notifying them they were found to be in breach of the foreign broadcaster censorship law.

The order handed down from the Communications Ministry and subsequent seizure of AP equipment came after the AP was issued a verbal order to stop broadcasting the live feed, which it refused to comply with. Independent of the more restrictive measured brought forth by the Netanyahu regime's latest crackdown on media outlets, the AP has maintained its compliance with other existing laws and regulations in Israel governing its coverage of the war. This includes not offering a live feed of real-time troop movements or other coverage that could endanger IDF soldiers or compromise the military tactics of operations within Gaza.

Given the AP's meticulous efforts to act in accordance with Israeli laws, it reacted to the seizure of its equipment in Sderot with justified vitriol. Lauren Easton, Vice Presicent Of Corporate Communications at the AP, denounced the order issued by Minister Karhi. “The shutdown was not based on the content of the feed but rather an abusive use by the Israeli government of the country’s new foreign broadcaster law. We urge the Israeli authorities to return our equipment and enable us to reinstate our live feed immediately so we can continue to provide this important visual journalism to thousands of media outlets around the world.” she stated.

Although the Communications Ministry justified its decision by issuing a state which read “In accordance with the government decision and the instruction of the communications minister, the communications ministry will continue to take whatever enforcement action is required to limit broadcasts that harm the security of the state,” other Israeli officials echoed the AP's sentiments. The decision was advantageously characterized as "an act of madness" by Yair Lapid, the minister who helms the role of Opposition Leader to Netanyahu's governing coalition in the Knesset. Lapid, who was Prime Minister Of Israel before Netanyahu succeeded him for a sixth term in 2022 was also a journalist before his political career took shape.

Officials from Washington DC also offered their concern regarding the decision to seize the AP's equipment. “We stand firm in our belief that journalists have the ability, right to do their jobs,” the White House said in another lukewarm criticism that embodies the Biden administration's toothless approach to reining in Israel's abuses of power.

Given the turmoil that the Netanyahu regime faces, the seizure of the AP equipment and cessation of its live feed of Gaza seems to have been deemed a Pyrrhic victory amid widespread protests domestically and an increasingly strained diplomatic relationship the US and other allies it depends on military aid from. Following widespread condemnation of the raid of the AP's Sderot office, Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi ordered his ministry to return the equipment. However, Karhi noted that Israel's Ministry Of Defense with now review and regulate the AP's live feed of Gaza.

“While we are pleased with this development, we remain concerned about the Israeli government’s use of the foreign broadcaster law and the ability of independent journalists to operate freely in Israel,” said the AP's Lauren Easton, whose measured reaction paints the picture of a perilous future for media outlets hoping to provide the world with an objective insight into Israel's war in Gaza. Easton was not alone in expressing that concern. Following the seizure of the AP's equipment, the Foreign Press Association issued a statement condemning the order and the law's impact on restricting freedom of the press in the country.

The Foreign Press Association is not the only organization who has criticized the Netanyahu regime for its tactics targeting media that isn't beholden to Israel's narrative. After the law passed the Knesset by a vote of 71 to 10 in early April, Reporters Without Borders called for the immediate repeal of the newly-adopted legislation. Jonathan Dagher, the head of the organization's Middle East division remarked on the ulterior motives Israel had for passing the law hidden under the guise of protecting its national security, stating:

“Israel is using every possible method to try to silence Al Jazeera for its coverage of the reality of the fate of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza since 7 October. The Israeli parliament's vote to censor Al Jazeera, and Benjamin Netanyahu's defamatory remarks about its journalists are unacceptable. RSF demands that the Israeli authorities end their aggressive harassment of Al Jazeera. Such censorship legislation, under the guise of democratic regulation, implicitly targeting a specific media outlet, creates a precedent fraught with dangers for journalism in Israel."

In addition to condemnation by the international community, the Netanyahu administration's enhanced censorship of media to quash political opposition has been a long-standing issue with Israeli media. In August 2023, the Israeli outlet Haaretz wrote a piece warning of the increased efforts to undermine freedoms of the press. Their piece came at a time where Netanyahu had been embroiled in controversy from everything regarding his on-going corruption trials and his controversial judicial reforms which sought to reconfigure Israel's court system to be more firmly under his control. The Haaretz piece shows that the wanton abandonment for the right to free press is something Netanyahu has exhibited long before October 7th, highlighting how disingenuous his claims about restricting the media in the interest of national security is and how the prime minister's administration continues to exploit the events of that day and subsequent war effort to advance an agenda that has been resisted before the conflict even began.

The impact that has had on the political climate in Israel has made objective reporting on the war a partisan issue. Unwavering supporters of the Israeli establishment have become so emboldened by and aligned under Netanyahu that they have begun to view the media as an enemy of the Jewish state for simply covering the war without bias. This is demonstrated by reaction to the AP's coverage following the controversy surrounding the seizure of its broadcasting equipment. The blatant disregard of valuing truth in media by staunch supporters of Netanyahu is a testament to the impact his censorship has had on the masses.

The nefarious motives behind the censorship campaign are further evidenced by how Netanyahu has advanced broadcasters more politically aligned with him. This dynamic is illustrated by the case of i24News, a foreign news outlet covering Israeli politics owned by the Dutch telecommunications group Altice. Initially, that outlet had been objective in examining Israeli politics under Netanyahu going back to its founding in 2013. However, this proved to be to their disadvantage as the channel struggled to receive a license to broadcast in English on Israeli television as well as to establish a news channel in Hebrew. The elusive nature of achieving this goals led to i24News CEO Frank Melloul to direct his staff to soften its stance on Netanyahu. This led to staffing and policy changes that saw the network gloss over stories like the mounting evidence of corruption against Netanyahu. After reshaping how the network covered Netanyahu, i24News was finally able to receive its license to broadcast in Israel in 2018.

This episode shows the stranglehold the Netanyahu regime has in controlling media in Israel. Since it has ingratiated itself into the favor of Netanyahu, i24News has proven to be a valuable asset in advancing the prime minister's political agenda. this has proven to be especially valuable since October 7th in shaping perception of Israel's war in Gaza. It was i24News that originally published the disputed story of babies being beheaded by Hamas militants on October 7th. The report originated from an interview i24News reporter Nicole Zedeck had with IDF reserve solider David Ben Zion. That i24News report was one of the most crucial pieces of propaganda toward cultivated the military response in Gaza by the IDF after October 7th despite the fact that the Israeli Foreign Ministry and IDF officials admitted there was no evidence of the beheading other than the testimony of Ben Zion.

In its inception, i24News sought to be an answer to Al Jazeera in many ways. It would be an international network covering Middle Eastern politics through a pro-Israel lens to counter the pro-Arab axis slant of Qatar's Al Jazeera. The juxtaposition of how Israel has treated those channels is a microcosm of the politicization of media in Israel. Under Netanyahu's watch, censorship has been a valuable tool in controlling the narratives needed to consolidate his power. The most recent legislation targeting the AP shows that the only enemy of Netanyahu's under attack by Israel more than Hamas is the truth.