The central media office of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) expressed solidarity with Al Mayadeen Broadcasting Channel, currently facing a systematic incitement campaign by the Israeli occupation government, as well as various Israeli media and security establishments.

The office emphasized that the Israeli occupation would not succeed in silencing the voice of truth that strives to convey the voice of Palestine to the world.

Attacks on Al Mayadeen are "part of the organized state terrorism practiced by the Zionist entity against anyone who exposes its massacres and the genocide against the Palestinian people to the world," the office added, noting that "this is evidence of the occupation's fear of this pivotal voice."

The PFLP's media office called on international journalistic institutions, particularly the International Federation of Journalists, to take responsibility for confronting these crimes and prosecuting the occupation's leaders for their ongoing criminal attacks against Palestinian journalists and media personnel.

Read more: In bid to silence them, Palestinian-Canadians suppressed at workplaces

"The Zionist enemy cold-bloodedly killed more than 50 Palestinian journalists and media personnel during a month of aggression on the sector," the PFLP said, addressing the federation.

Nabih Awada, an expert on Israeli affairs, said that the decision to ban all Al Mayadeen platforms, websites, or any affiliated online addresses, indicates the channel's importance and the state of anxiety it has caused for the Israelis.

This can be clearly witnessed when the decision to ban the channel's broadcasting was urgent to the extent that the Israeli Security and Communication ministers made a direct intervention into the matter, while the cabinet should instead be preoccupied with the war and the aggression on Gaza.

Read more: Israeli journalist, settlers ambush, threaten Al Mayadeen's reporter

Awada also pointed out that Al Mayadeen was on top of the cabinet's agenda yesterday, adding that this alone stands as a medal of pride for the network.

Further highlighting the event's significance, the expert said that the decision was made alongside points of discussions the Israeli Cabinet was conducting related to the war in Gaza and escalation of tensions with Lebanon, as well as the outcomes of the Arab-OIC Summit among other headlines of great importance.

According to Awada, this can only indicate that Al Mayadeen was truly one of the Resistance's rockets, a platform for the Resistance,  which was able to largely influence public opinion.

Read more: PJS Head: We will stand with Al Mayadeen, its employees

"لا توجد أصوات حرة في الكيان الإسرائيلي. كل الإعلام اليوم يخضع لسلطة الرقيب العسكري الذي يصنع الخبر".

الخبير في الشؤون الإسرائيلية نبيه عواضة لـ #الميادين.#طوفان_الأقصى#الثورة_الكبرى#فلسطين #غزة pic.twitter.com/QMK04nBTI1

— قناة الميادين (@AlMayadeenNews) November 13, 2023

On his part, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Mujahideen Movement, Salem Atallah, described the Israeli decision as "a badge of honor and a source of pride for the [Al Maydeen] Resistant channel."

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Democratic Union (FIDA) slammed the decision as "behavior not unexpected from a racist and illegitimate occupation that derives its authority from committing crimes and practicing all forms of repression, terrorism, and silencing voices."

FIDA added that this decision serves as further evidence of the Israeli occupation's bankruptcy and confusion in light of its continuous losses on the southern and northern fronts of occupied Palestine.

In a statement from its cultural and media department, FIDA explained that this decision is also a testament to the downfall of the Israeli entity, especially regarding the false claims it has long repeated about being a "model of freedom and democracy in the East."

Read more: 'Israel' says it can't guarantee journalists' safety in Gaza

"We are confident that all forms of crimes committed by the occupation, including the killing of journalists, their arrest, the prevention and restriction of their work, and the banning and closure of media institutions will not intimidate anyone, nor will they succeed in changing or modifying the entity's image before the international public opinion."

The Jordanian National Movement Party also expressed strong condemnation of the Israeli occupation's closure of Al Mayadeen's offices and its ban on its broadcasting, adding that "Al Mayadeen has proven its high credibility in conveying the occupation's massacres against the Palestinian people."

Also denouncing the Israeli decision, the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party in Syria issued a statement expressing full solidarity with Al Mayadeen.

In a statement, the party noted that the Israeli decision confirms several facts and truths, the most important of which is "a clear admission that the channel's work is a resistant and important act posing a threat to the entity and its crimes, and this is a new medal that Al Mayadeen proudly dons on its chest."

Related News

Resistance leader details Gaza proposal, Hamas’ stance: Exclusive

Yemen MoH reports 61 martyrs from US aggression since mid-March

The statement added that it is also an admission "of the entity's weakness, confusion, and fear, not only of the resistors on the ground but also of the resistant media," explaining that it is a new proof of the Israeli occupation's nature, which is opposed to all rights, including the right to express opinions and objectively convey events, exposing its false claims of advocating democracy and freedoms.

In rejection of the crackdown on free speech and the freedom of the press, many Lebanese and Arab figures expressed their solidarity with Al Mayadeen.

Notably, former Lebanese President Emile Lahoud affirmed that the Israeli decision to ban Al Mayadeen is a great honor for the media network. 

Lebanese Minister of Labor, Mustafa Bayram, emphasized that Al Mayadeen should take pride in exposing the enemy and in triumphing in the war of images, terminology, truth, and resistance.

Furthermore, the editor-in-chief of the Yemeni Al-Thawra newspaper, Abdul-Rahman al-Ahnoumi, believed that this decision reveals the crisis the entity is grappling with, stressing that it is an additional badge of honor for Al Mayadeen.

The President of the Arab International Center for Communication and Solidarity, Maan Bashour, confirmed that the meeting of the Israeli cabinet to discuss the ban on Al Mayadeen was a testimony to its competence and effectiveness.

Kamal al-Khair, the head of the National Center in northern Lebanon, pointed out that this blatant attack on Al Mayadeen proves to the world that it speaks the truth.

Waleed Muhammad Ali, the coordinator of the Capable Together network, noted that the Israeli war cabinet is trying to snuff out the voice of Al Mayadeen, which contributed to exposing the occupation's lies.

In this context, the editor-in-chief of the electronic newspaper Rai Al Youm, Abdel Bari Atwan, stated, "The terrorist campaign that aims to silence Al Mayadeen is a badge of honor only earned by the honorable."

Head of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, Omar Nazzal, affirmed, "We will not allow the silencing of the free voice."

Ban on Al Mayadeen in full effect

The Israeli war cabinet approved regulations that would allow the occupation government to ban and shut down Al Mayadeen Media Network, which comprises a foreign channel as per the emergency regulations descriptions and broadcasts in "Israel" in three languages: Arabic, English, and Spanish.

The occupation's war cabinet has issued an order to block Al Mayadeen's online operations in occupied Palestine as well, and an order to seize its broadcasting equipment will be issued later today.

According to the decision, Al Mayadeen is said to "harm national security."

The decision, which also included banning all websites that could serve as a medium for Al Mayadeen, addressed all Internet service providers to prevent all users of the services from accessing the following websites "that were found, after examination by the Ministry of Information, to be Internet sites through which Al Mayadeen channel broadcasts":

almayadeen.net
english.almayadeen.net
espanol.almayadeen.net

Check out Al Mayadeen's coverage on Palestine

بعدما فضحت جرائمه والإبادة التي يرتكبها بحق الشعب الفلسطيني، الاحتلال يصادق على وقف نشاط شبكة الميادين في "إسرائيل" #الميادين #فلسطين_المحتلة #الاحتلال #غزة #غزة_تنزف#الميادين_Go #طوفان_الأقصى pic.twitter.com/aGRSCllM3z

— Almayadeen Go الميادين (@almayadeengo) November 13, 2023

Al Mayadeen exposing Israelis to the public

Israeli Security Minister Yoav Gallant called Al Mayadeen employees "terrorists masquerading as journalists" and called for measures against them. 

"I have recommended taking action against the channel and implementing criminal and economic measures against its members [those who work for it]," Gallant said. 

Meanwhile, the Israeli Minister of Communications, said the ban on Al Mayadeen is part of the measures taken by the Israeli regime in its "war in the public consciousness."

"Israel is at war. On land, in the air, at sea in cyberspace, in the electromagnetic spectrum, and in [the public] consciousness," Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said. 

"Israel will not allow Al Mayadeen to broadcast its dangerous propaganda, which attempts, during the war, to undermine its security interests and serve the goals of the enemy," he said, adding that the measures taken against the network are "necessary actions against supporters of terrorism who pretend to be journalists."

Read more: Letter by over 750 journalists condemns Western coverage of 'Israel'

#الميادين في تغطية مستمرة للعدوان الإسرائيلي على غزة ورد المقاومة في إطار ملحمة #طوفان_الأقصى. شاهدوا البث المباشر من خلال:

⭕️ موقع الميادين 👇 https://t.co/Be5aU983aw

⭕️ يوتيوب 👇 https://t.co/erpL68JlU4

⭕️ تويتر👇… pic.twitter.com/FZfnevmPuu

— قناة الميادين (@AlMayadeenNews) November 13, 2023