As press freedoms decline in Israel, people there see the war differently from the rest of the world | CBC News LoadedIsrael’s brief seizure of The Associated Press’s video equipment last week may have proven to be a step too far in the government’s limiting of press freedoms amid the war in Gaza.Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a camp area housing internally displaced people in Rafah on May 27, amid ongoing battles between Israel and Hamas.
Israeli officials seized The Associated Press's video equipment from an apartment block in Sderot, Southern Israel, on May 21. Israeli officials seized the camera and broadcasting equipment belonging to the AP in southern Israel on Tuesday, accusing the news organization of violating the country's new ban on Al Jazeera. Shortly before the equipment was seized, it was broadcasting a general view of northern Gaza.
CBC News contacted Israel's Ministry of Communications for comment on claims that press freedom in the country is eroding and was referred to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, but did not receive a response in time for publication.An Israeli airstrike and its aftermath have killed dozens of innocent Palestinians sheltering in tents in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a mistake, while international leaders condemned it.
Karhi shared video of police and government officials raiding Al Jazeera's office at a hotel in occupied East Jerusalem. Jodie Ginsberg is the CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based non-profit organization that promotes press freedom and works to defend journalists' right to report safely. Press freedom in Israel was already slipping before the war, said Saragusti, with political attacks on the media beginning shortly after Netanyahu formed his current government in 2022.the country's public broadcaster, Kan, and has accused the media of left-wing bias.
She said most mainstream Israeli news outlets practise a great deal of self-censorship when it comes to the devastation in Gaza.