{UAH} Israeli government moves to impose ban on al-Jazeera news network
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10:34 AM |
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On Wednesday, August 2, 2017, 02:22, Abbey Semuwemba<abbeysemuwemba@gmail.com> wrote:
The continued expansion of Israel into Palestinian territory is an issue which theworld seems not to take seriously, and one day this is going to be a problem for everyone. Unfortunately the State of Israel never got properly established in the first place. There was a guerilla war and terrorism in 1947, a truce in 1948 along what were supposed to be temporary boundaries (the "Green Line," no?, and then Stalin recognized Israel in order to embarrass Truman into recognizing it, before a peace had been negotiated with which all parties could live -- a treaty that would have dealt with refugees, D.P.s, "occupied territories," and everything else.Israel was a victim of the Cold War before it had even really gotten under way. (Wasn't the Berlin Airlift later in 1948?)There's no doubt that Palestinians have lost more in terms of lives, land and property ever since Israel was established. I strongly believe that if Syria fails to bring anotherworld war, the Israel Palestine conflict will, and it's worrying!Abbey
Israel has moved to ban al-Jazeera from operating in the country and in the occupied territories, joining a boycott by Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia which have all accused the network of sponsoring terrorism.
The communications minister, Ayoob Kara, said press cards for al-Jazeera reporters would be revoked. His announcement follows a vow the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, made in July to close the Jerusalem office of the Qatari state-funded news network.
The move had been foreshadowed in recent weeks as a diplomatic standoff simmered between Qatar and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which had made shutting down the network central to a list of demands delivered to the ruling family in Doha.
The GCC was following a cue from Riyadh, which moved to isolate Qatar in June, whose leaders it accuses of backing Saudi Arabia's regional foes Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood, and of sowing division in the region.
Israel is not a party to the Saudi-led demands, but it had long been scathing of al-Jazeera's coverage of the Palestinian conflict, accusing the network of deep ties to Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza and the West Bank. The defence minister, Avigdor Lieberman, has described some of the coverage as "Nazi Germany-style" propaganda.
The move further aligns the interests of the Gulf states and the Netanyahu government, which have grown closer in recent years primarily because of common views over Iran and, more lately, the Muslim Brotherhood, which has links to Hamas. All claim that al-Jazeera Arabic has incited violence through its coverage of regional conflicts.
Qatar has long argued the channel gives a voice to all stakeholders in regional affairs, and has regularly scheduled interviews with Israeli government officials – one of the few Arab networks to have done so.
Al-Jazeera's coverage had nonetheless been a key component of a grievance that had festered among its close neighbours for years before erupting after Donald Trump's high-profile visit to Riyadh in May, during which he pivoted US foreign policy away from Iran and towards Saudi Arabia, a traditional Washington ally.
The Saudi leadership, in particular Mohammed bin Salman, who was anointed crown prince and heir to the throne weeks later, moved quickly to assert its authority. Nearly two months later, however, Qatar has ridden out an air, land and sea blockade and defied demands to sever ties with Tehran or the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Israeli announcement came as the standoff shows no sign of ending. "Lately, almost all countries in our region determined that al-Jazeera supports terrorism, supports religious radicalisation," said Kara. "And when we see that all these countries have determined as fact that al-Jazeera is a tool of the Islamic State, Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, and we are the only one who have not determined that, then something delusional is happening here."
Al-Jazeera did not respond to the development, and the Israeli government offered no timetable for the shutdown. Nor was not immediately clear if the announcement included reporters from al-Jazeera English, which has a separate editorial team and is not considered by the network's critics to be as strident as the Arabic network.
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