US asks Israelis to reverse crackdown on AP: Axios
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The AP was swift to denounce the Israeli decision, as it provides live feed for thousands of clients from all over the world.
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AP video equipment is laid on the floor of an apartment block in 'Sderot' in southern occupied Palestine before Israeli officials seized it on May 21, 2024 (AP)
Sources familiar with the situation have informed Axios that the Biden administration urged "Israel" to overturn its decision to remove broadcasting equipment from the Associated Press.
The Israeli occupation forces seized Tuesday a camera and other broadcasting equipment from AP, in southern occupied Palestine, putting an end to their live feed of the northern Gaza Strip.
Commenting on the Incident, Israeli opposition Leader Yair Lapid said: "The confiscation of the equipment of the AP, the world's largest news agency, by minister of Communications Shlomo Karhi's people, is an act of madness."
" This government behaves as if it has decided to make sure at all costs that Israel will be a pariah all over the world. They went crazy," he added.
The Israeli occupation's decision to stifle yet another media outlet in occupied Palestine comes over allegations that the AP is violating a new Israeli media law by providing images to Al Jazeera, which was banned from broadcasting from the occupied Palestinian territories.
The AP was swift to denounce the Israeli decision, as it provides live feed for thousands of clients from all over the world.
A White House spokesperson told Axios that "We've been engaging directly with the government of Israel to express our concerns over this action and to ask them to reverse it."
The Israeli Ministry of Communications claims that the confiscation happened because the broadcast "endangered" the Israeli occupation forces as they committed their war crimes in Gaza.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre told reporters that the Biden administration is worried about allegations of the seizure, citing that journalists must have the right and ability to conduct their jobs.
It is noteworthy that the number of journalists killed by "Israel" since October 7 has risen to 147 journalists, the Government Media Office in Gaza recently reported.
The Israeli occupation has been clamping down on journalistic organizations just like the AP over senseless allegations, including Al Mayadeen, which was banned from operating in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948 by the Israeli cabinet as "Israel" seeks to cover up its war crimes in Gaza through any means possible.
The Israeli war cabinet approved on November 13 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.
According to the decision, Al Mayadeen is said to "harm national security."
In accordance with the emergency regulations enacted by the occupation government to prevent any foreign broadcast corporation from compromising "national security" and after the Minister of Security was convinced of the actual threat to "national security", the war cabinet approved early this morning the proposal by the Minister of Communications to shut down Al Mayadeen Media Network.
According to the Israeli Minister of Communications, 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,” the Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said.
