Telesur president voices solidarity with Al Mayadeen after Israeli ban

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeen
15 Nov 2023 13:43
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The founder and president of Telesur says that the channel feels as if the Israeli decision against Al Mayadeen and the attack on journalism and freedom of speech"had happened directly against us."

Founder and President of the Venezuela-based Telesur News Network, Patricia Villegas Marin. (Al Mayadeen)

Patricia Villegas Marin, founder and president of the Telesur network, has expressed her solidarity with the Al Mayadeen Media Network in the face of the Israeli decision to shut down the network's office in occupied Palestine, and the persecution of its employees by occupation authorities.

In a message to Ghassan Ben Jeddou, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Al Mayadeen Media Network, Marin expressed that Telesur views "this [Israeli] attack on freedom of expression and the free practice of journalism had happened directly against us."

Al Mayadeen exposed Israeli crimes

She referred to their coverage in Telesur of the genocide committed against the Palestinian people, pointing out that what is happening in Palestine is a "reality conveyed by the brave colleagues at Al Mayadeen."

Check out Al Mayadeen's coverage on Palestine

The president of the Latin American news network based in Venezuela's Caracas, emphasized that this action taken by the occupation is "contrary to international law and the rules that the world has set for itself," indicating that the presence of Al Mayadeen in occupied Palestine, and its unfiltered, real-time coverage of the war on Gaza, led to this action by the Israeli occupier.

She explained that the occupation seeks, through the attempt to silence the work of the Al Mayadeen team in the occupied Palestinian territories, to impose a single narrative, favoring certain sources over others, pointing out that this adds to their crimes of killing journalists and their families, and confirming that what the occupation is doing is "a desperate attempt to silence the pain which, if it expresses anything, it expresses the dignity of this people who are insulting their enemy."

Continue together

Therefore, despite what they do, the whole world rises today and takes action against Israelis, because the media has succeeded in informing and revealing the reality of what is happening in Gaza and exposing the Israeli ongoign crimes.. "As there is a force that dominates and aggresses, there is also a world that resists... and in this resisting world, we find you, our friends in Al Mayadeen."

"We offer all our strength to you so we continue the journey together," Marin said addressing Ben Jeddou.

"We hope that such experiences will be transformed into infinite power that makes every individual in your team exert their utmost effort, with full certainty of the importance of the work accomplished so far," she said.

"We hope that the channel will maintain the continuity of this coverage and the stream of information it provides us, despite its [sceneray] harshness and sometimes being so heartbreaking that it is difficult to bear from a human perspective," but it is extremely necessary to "expose everything that should not be allowed to happen."

"Every second of Al Mayadeen's broadcast teaches us what should never happen [crimes] and at the same time commits us all to what is just, what is right, and what is appropriate, and affirms our path on the road of just causes in history."

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."