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Israeli authorities briefly seized broadcasting equipment from the Associated Press today. The equipment was being used to create a live video feed into Northern Gaza, filmed from the Israeli border. Israel's communications ministry said the U.S. wire service agency violated the law by providing images to the news channel Al Jazeera, but it later returned the equipment after the White House and others protested. NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi reports from Tel Aviv.
HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, BYLINE: The Associated Press has been broadcasting a live feed into Northern Gaza throughout the war. The feed shows a Gaza skyline with buildings and sometimes plumes of smoke rising into the sky from the fighting. But on Tuesday, the Associated Press said that Israeli authorities arrived at one of their locations and took the equipment they were using for that broadcast.
AP said the Israeli officials accused them of violating a new media law because AP was providing images to Al Jazeera, the Qatari-funded network which has been kicked out of Israel. Israel has not allowed international journalists independent access to Gaza since the beginning of the war. Media organizations like NPR have depended on the work of Palestinian reporters inside the strip, so the AP feed provides useful visuals into the enclave. Al Jazeera has not shied away from showing graphic images of the bloodshed and killing of Palestinians, while the Israeli government accuses it of being a propaganda arm of Hamas by encouraging armed struggle against Israel - a claim Al Jazeera denies.
The Israeli government came under pressure by the White House on Tuesday, with spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre calling the move concerning, and there were reports that the Biden administration told the Israeli government to return the equipment. And within a few hours, the Israeli Ministry of Communications ordered what they called a cancellation of the operation and a return of the equipment to AP.
Hadeel Al-Shalchi, NPR News, Tel Aviv.
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