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Israel closes Al Jazeera bureau in Ramallah: All you need to know

Israel closes Al Jazeera bureau in Ramallah: All you need to know

On live television, heavily armed Israeli soldiers raided Al Jazeera’s occupied West Bank bureau in Ramallah and handed the bureau head, Walid al-Omari, a notice to shut it down. The soldiers ordered everyone working the overnight shift at the bureau to leave, telling them they could take only their personal belongings. What happened and why? Here’s everything we know: Who closed the bureau? The order came from the Israeli military authority despite the bureau being in Area A, an area delineated as being under Palestinian control in the Oslo Accords. Wait, so if Ramallah is under Palestinian control, how can Israel do this? This is not the first time Israel has undertaken actions in the Oslo Accords-defined Area A, where Ramallah is and where the Palestinian Authority (PA) has its seat. One year ago, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland reported that, just between June and September last year, there had been many Palestinian casualties caused by Israeli operations in Area A. The other two areas in the occupied West Bank are Area B, which the PA also administers on paper, sharing security control with Israel. Area C is under complete Israeli control. Regardless of legal jurisdiction, Israel has acted with impunity across the occupied West Bank. Why did Israel raid the bureau? Israel has often targeted Al Jazeera and its journalists, at times going as far as killing them – as it did Shireen Abu Akleh, Samer Abudaqa, Ismail al-Ghoul and Rami al-Rifi. “This is very much in line with the policy of the state of Israel since 1948 … to prevent real news about Palestinians or about what the state of Israel is doing to Palestinians … colonising them and arresting them and torturing them,” Rami Khouri, distinguished fellow at the American University in Beirut, told Al Jazeera. But why did Israel do this? The closure order accuses Al Jazeera of incitement and supporting “terrorism”. Khouri said Al Jazeera is “the primary instrument for informing the world about” Israel’s violations in Palestinian territory. What did Israel do to the bureau? The entire team working in the bureau overnight was told to leave. Initially, they were told on camera that they should leave with their personal belongings and cameras. However, they had to leave the cameras in the office in the end. An Israeli soldier stands next to a military vehicle near the building where the Al Jazeera office is, in Ramallah, Israeli-occupied West Bank, September 22, 2024 [Mohammed Torokman/Reuters] Al Jazeera’s Jivara Budeiri, who had been working when the raid happened, told Al Jazeera Arabic that the Israeli group that raided the office had included engineers, which made her fear that the raiders had also come to destroy the bureau’s archives. The soldiers were in the offices for a few hours, during which time the only thing that could be observed was some of them tearing down a large banner of slain Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. Are the Al Jazeera team OK? Nobody on the team has been injured. They spent hours standing on the street at a distance from the office building, unable to approach it to retrieve their cars. They were also, according to Al Jazeera Arabic’s Budeiri, unable to move to cover the raid, as any member of the group who moved was threatened with an Israeli weapon’s laser. As the Israeli soldiers were in the Al Jazeera bureau destroying things like the banner of Shireen Abu Akleh, more soldiers in armoured cars patrolled the area around the building, and the bureau team could hear gunfire and firing of tear gas canisters all around. When can the bureau reopen? The order is for 45 days. However, bureau head al-Omari said he assumes it will be renewed automatically, as has been the case with an early May civilian order Israel issued to close the Al Jazeera bureau in Israel. Military vehicles roamed around the bureau building in Ramallah until daybreak. Gunfire and firing of tear gas canisters were heard, September 22, 2024 [Mohammed Torokman/Reuters] What’s the difference between a civilian order and a military one? Probably nothing in practice, however, there are some differences in form. Al Jazeera’s bureau in Israel was closed in May after the Israeli parliament passed what became known as the “Al Jazeera Law”, which allowed the government to shut down, for 45 days at a time, any foreign media that posed a threat to the state. With this justification, a large number of inspectors from the Ministry of Communications arrived at the Al Jazeera offices and confiscated equipment on May 5. The “temporary shutdown” has been renewed since then and still holds. The Ramallah closure comes from an authority that does not, in theory, have any power over Ramallah. What can the bureau do about this? Bureau head al-Omari was told by one of the soldiers that any inquiries would have to go to the military command that issued the order. Al-Omari told Al Jazeera Arabic over the phone that this likely meant that any appeal would have to go through the military courts system. The Israeli military courts run on an opaque system of “secret evidence” and indefinite administrative detentions. What’s the situation now? The Al Jazeera bureau is inaccessible to the team, sealed off with two large metal plates welded over the entrance. Adblock test (Why?)

German police chase and detain boy at pro-Palestine rally

German police chase and detain boy at pro-Palestine rally

NewsFeed Video shows German police chasing a 10-year-old boy carrying a Palestinian flag who ran, visibly afraid, when officers approached him during a protest in Berlin, before he was caught and taken into custody. Published On 22 Sep 202422 Sep 2024 Adblock test (Why?)

Israel’s attempted silencing of Al Jazeera’s coverage of the occupation

Israel’s attempted silencing of Al Jazeera’s coverage of the occupation

NewsFeed ‘All we’ve been doing is reporting on what the Israeli military does to Palestinians’. Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi recorded this message in case Israel shut down Al Jazeera’s bureau in Ramallah, from where our journalists have reported on the realities for people living under Israeli occupation for decades. Published On 22 Sep 202422 Sep 2024 Adblock test (Why?)

NC rallygoers ‘praying’ that Trump wins, slam Dem rhetoric calling him a ‘threat’ after assassination attempts

NC rallygoers ‘praying’ that Trump wins, slam Dem rhetoric calling him a ‘threat’ after assassination attempts

WILMINGTON, N.C. — Fired-up attendees at former President Trump’s North Carolina rally are “praying that he wins” in November, explaining that they are infuriated over Democratic rhetoric regarding the GOP nominee. Trump held an outdoor campaign rally in North Carolina on Saturday – a battleground state that the Republican nominee narrowly won in the 2020 presidential race. Rallygoers spoke with Fox News Digital about why they showed up to Saturday’s event, and what their thoughts on the current state of the 2024 election. “We need Trump to save this country,” Sharron from New Bern, North Carolina, told Fox News Digital. NY RALLYGOERS PLEAD FOR TRUMP’S RETURN TO RESTORE FUTURE OF BLUE STATE, CITE MIGRANT CRISIS AS MAJOR CONCERN One individual, Richard, told Fox that he was at the rally to “get this world straightened back out” and elect Trump in 2024. Several attendees expressed uncertainty about the fairness of the 2024 election. Asked whether they think it will be fair, one individual said “definitely not.” “Yes, I hope so,” one woman, Tammy, told Fox News Digital. ‘TRUMP 2024!’: YOUNG SUPPORTER WITH RARE BRAIN DISORDER BEAMS AFTER SURPRISE MEETING WITH FORMER PRESIDENT “I absolutely do not,” another attendee told Fox. “It infuriates me to the fact that I’m almost in tears. I’m so passionate about it.” “If he doesn’t get in, we are gonna to lose everything,” she added. “What they put this man through is despicable, and I just pray for him every day.” Since July, two individuals have attempted to assassinate Trump – one during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and the other allegedly on a golf course in Florida. Several rallygoers said they believe Democratic rhetoric labeling Trump a “threat” contributed to the attempts on his life. “I absolutely think its appalling that they continue to do that,” one attendee said. “The day after, they were still making false claims about him, saying he’s a threat to democracy, the campaigns were full of lies and I just can’t fathom how anyone can support this other administration.” “That definitely contributed to that. If they call him tyrant, [a] threat to democracy, they make him basically Hitler,” an individual, from South Korea, attending the event told Fox.