Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi announced that equipment confiscated by his office personnel will be returned to the Associated Press news agency.
“Since the Defense Ministry wishes to examine the matter of the broadcasts from these locations in Sderot regarding the risk to our forces, I have now ordered a cancellation of the operation and return the equipment to AP, until a different decision is made by the Defense Ministry,” Karhi said in a statement on Tuesday night, hours after the equipment was first seized in the southern Israeli city. The statement appeared to place the blame for the seizure on the security establishment and the Defense Ministry.
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Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi announced that equipment confiscated by his office personnel will be returned to the Associated Press
(Photos: Dani Shem Tov, Knesset spokeswoman, Ministry of Communications spokeswoman)
Karhi's decision was made in the shadow of heavy American pressure, and after the Biden administration sent messages to the Prime Minister's Office urging Israel to walk back the decision.
The ministry officials seized a camera and broadcasting equipment belonging to The Associated Press after accusing the news organization of violating a new media law by providing images to Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera network is just one of thousands of media networks in the world that use AP's live broadcasts.
After the particularly unusual step of confiscating the equipment and stopping the broadcasting from Sderot, the Biden administration sent urgent messages to Israel, in which it demanded the cancellation of the move against AP, an American news agency. An appeal was also made to the Prime Minister's Office.
The confiscation of the equipment was not coordinated with the Prime Minister's Office, according to PMO officials. To justify the action, the Communications Ministry published a video in which it appears that the live broadcast seen on Al Jazeera is actually a shot from the house in Sderot.
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Screenshot from AP live feed showing a general view of northern Gaza as seen from southern Israel, before it was seized by Israeli officials on Tuesday, May 21, 2024
(Photo: AP)
Shortly before the equipment was seized, it was broadcasting a general view of northern Gaza. The AP complies with Israel’s military censorship rules, which prohibit broadcasts of details like troops movements that could endanger soldiers. The live shot has generally shown smoke rising over the territory.
The seizure followed a verbal order Thursday to cease the live transmission — which the news organization refused to do.
The Communications Ministry said that last week "the AP agency was given a warning that according to the law and the government's decision they are prohibited from providing broadcasts to Al Jazeera, however they decided to continue broadcasting on the channel, which causes a real harm to the security of the state."
Earlier this month, the government voted to approve the proposal of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Karhi to close the offices of the Al Jazeera channel in Israel. Under the new law, it was decided to confiscate the channel's broadcasting facilities, ban its broadcasts and access to its website and cancel the journalist credentials of all its reporters in Israel.
“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,” said Lauren Easton, vice president of corporate communications at the news organization. “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.”
Before the announcement of the return of the equipment, the Union of Journalists in Israel said in a statement that "the Communications Ministry must immediately stop the hunt for media outlets and journalists. This is a serious threat to democracy and the freedom of the press. It is a distinct Israeli interest that the professional and free work of media outlets, foreign and Israeli, be allowed here, even if they frame reality differently than the Israeli government."