Israeli Authorities Return AP’s Broadcast Equipment, Reversing Decision Halting Gaza Live Broadcast

A picture taken from Israel's southern city of Sderot shows destroyed buildings following Israeli bombardments of the northern Gaza Strip on Nov. 24, 2023, hours after the start of a four-day truce in battles between Israel and Hamas. (Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP via Getty Images)

The Israeli Ministry of Communications said it has return camera and broadcasting equipment it seized from The Associated Press on Tuesday, reversing an earlier decision to shut down the news organization’s live broadcast of the embattled Gaza Strip.

The Israeli ministry originally seized the broadcast equipment on the premise that The Associated Press, an international news wire service, had allowed Al Jazeera to rebroadcast its Gaza war footage. Israeli authorities ordered Al Jazeera to cease operations in Israel earlier this month, concluding the broadcaster posed a threat to Israeli national security.

The decision by the Israeli Ministry of Communications prompted criticism from The Associated Press and Israeli political opposition leader Yair Lapid.

The Israeli ministry originally claimed The Associated Press broadcast risked exposing Israeli troop movements within the Gaza Strip. Announcing the decision to return the broadcast equipment and reverse course, Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said the Israeli Ministry of Defense had asked his office to re-examine the security risks The Associated Press broadcast allegedly posed.

“In light of this, the Communications Minister ordered that the equipment be returned to the AP agency at this stage, until the security opinion is received and the issue re-examined,” Mr. Karhi’s office said in a translated press statement on Tuesday evening, hours after The Associated Press initially reported the seizure.

AP Broadcast Revived Al Jazeera Concerns: Israeli Authorities

Israeli government authorities originally seized The Associated Press broadcast equipment earlier on Tuesday, citing concerns about Al Jazeera seeing and resharing the footage.

The Israeli legislature, the Knesset, recently passed legislation granting the Israeli prime minister the authority to order foreign broadcast organizations operating in Israel to shut down if he deems their activities jeopardize national security. The Knesset passed the law with Al Jazeera in mind, and Israeli authorities moved to shut down the Qatari broadcaster’s Israel-based operations earlier this month after the Netanyahu government declared the channel has been spreading propaganda for Hamas, a U.S. and Israeli-designated terrorist organization.

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The Associated Press first announced on Tuesday morning that Israeli authorities had seized some of their camera equipment on grounds that the U.S. publisher was violating the Israeli government’s order against Al Jazeera.

The Associated Press is a wire service whose business model involves selling its media content to other publishers, including Al Jazeera.

The Associated Press said Israeli authorities first approached them last week, informing the U.S. publisher that they had run afoul of Israel’s media control laws by allowing Al Jazeera to republish their footage.

“After being warned, the Ministry of Communications confiscated a camera of the AP news agency that was broadcasting while trying to trace the activities of our forces, and transferred the footage to the Al-Jazeera station, in violation of the law,” the Israeli Ministry of Communications said in a translated Hebrew press statement on Tuesday afternoon, after The Associated Press first reported the equipment seizure.

The Israeli Communications Ministry said it specifically warned The Associated Press last week about sharing its broadcasts with Al Jazeera but that the U.S. publisher continued to carry its live stream.

“In accordance with the government’s decision and the order of the Minister of Communications, the Ministry of Communications will continue to carry out enforcement actions as necessary to limit broadcasts that harm the security of the state,” the Israeli office continued.

AP Insists They Complied With Israeli Censors

“The Associated Press decries in the strongest terms the actions of the Israeli government to shut down our longstanding live feed showing a view into Gaza and seize AP equipment,” The Associated Press Vice President of Corporate Communications Lauren Easton said in a Tuesday morning press statement.

The U.S.-based wire service said its Gaza war live stream, which it has carried throughout the ongoing conflict there, has consistently complied with Israeli media controls. While the live transmission has at times shown smoke rising from the embattled territory, the U.S. wire service publisher said it has complied with Israel’s military censorship rules, such as those prohibiting broadcasts of troop movements and other activities that could expose the details of Israeli operations.

“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,“ Ms. Easton said. ”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.”

Mr. Karhi’s decision to reverse course could allow The Associated Press to resume the broadcast, at least while it reviews its initial decision to seize the equipment.

Israeli Opposition Leader Denounces Enforcement Action Against AP

The move by Mr. Karhi and the Israeli Communications Ministry to shut down The Associated Press’s Gaza live-stream drew the ire of Yair Lapid, the designated leader of the opposition in the Israeli Knesset.

“The confiscation of the equipment of AP, the world’s largest news agency, by Shlomo Karai’s men, is an act of madness,” Mr. Lapid said in a translated social media post on Tuesday.

“This is not Al Jazeera, this is an American media outlet that has won 53 Pulitzer Prizes,” Mr. Lapid continued.

Mr. Karhi, an appointee of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, published his own statement on social media, rebuffing the opposition leader’s comments.

“‘Shlomo Karai’s men’ are the dedicated professionals of the Ministry of Communications who uphold the provisions of the law and the government’s decisions,” Mr. Karhi’s translated statement reads. “By the way, even if you decide to become a freelancer for a terrorist channel that endangers our fighters and broadcast the locations of our forces to them with your camera, I will make sure that the inspectors of the Ministry of Communications reach you.”

Mr. Karhi shamed Mr. Lapid in his statement only hours before he agreed to return The Associated Press broadcast equipment.

Biden Admin Weighed In Following Israeli Move

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre addressed the Israeli Communications Ministry’s enforcement action against The Associated Press while traveling with reporters aboard Air Force One as President Joe Biden traveled to a press event in New Hampshire on Tuesday.

“You hear this from me and obviously the President himself when we talk about journalism, and the importance, and how essential it is to the pillars of our democracy,” she told reporters. “And we have women and men, certainly, worldwide who — who work very hard 24/7, obviously, to uphold those pillars of democracy. And so, it is essential that continues, and that certainly includes journalists at the AP. And so, we’re looking into it.”

NTD News reached out to the U.S. State Department for additional details about the Biden administration’s diplomatic efforts to address the recent Israeli enforcement action against The Associated Press. The department did not respond by press time on Tuesday.

It’s unclear what, if any, specific actions the Biden administration took on behalf of The Associated Press and whether these actions played a role in Mr. Karhi’s decision to reverse course.

This incident with The Associated Press comes amid some recent tensions between the Biden administration and the Netanyahu government concerning the course of the ongoing Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip and its impact on civilians there.

The Biden administration has recently urged the Netanyahu government to facilitate increased humanitarian supplies to the embattled territory and to limit Israeli military operations in the southern Gazan city of Rafah until they have a more detailed plan to protect civilians in and around that city. Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced the Biden administration’s decision to pause the delivery of a shipment of “high-payload” weapons to Israel. President Biden threatened to stop supplying additional tranches of weapons to Israel if their forces expanded operations in Rafah.

While the Biden administration has occasionally admonished its Israeli counterparts, it has continued to broadly support the Israeli operations in the Gaza Strip. Earlier this year, the Biden administration advocated for a $95 billion foreign aid supplemental that tied several billion dollars worth of military aid to Israel with its other foreign policy priorities.

The Biden administration came out in defense of Mr. Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday, denouncing a request from an International Criminal Court prosecutor to charge the Israeli leaders with war crimes alongside Hamas leaders.

From NTD News