Israel Confiscates Equipment From Associated Press and Shuts Down Live Feed
Israel accused the AP of helping Al Jazeera evade their ban in Israel, and endangering soldiers and national security with a live feed of Gaza.
Israel confiscated a camera, tripod, two microphones and transmission equipment owned by the Associated Press on Tuesday from their office in Sderot, and shut down a 24/7 live transmission of northern Gaza.
Israeli authorities, led by Minister of Communications Shlomo Karchi, said the equipment was taken because the AP provided images to Al Jazeera, the Qatar-owned Holocaust-denying network that was recently banned in Israel for violating the newly passed law that is deemed to pose a “national security risk”. Al Jazeera was shut down in Israel and had its equipment seized by its broadcasts and websites were blocked, but are only one of the thousands of clients that use the wire services feed for their own coverage.
On top of accusing the Associated Press of abetting Al Jazeera in evading its ban in Israel, officials said that the live feed "endangers our fighters" by broadcasting their activities in Gaza, caused "a real harm to the security of the state," and that they "will continue to carry out enforcement actions to the extent necessary."
There has been much pushback to the taking of the Associated Press’s equipment, from the wire service itself and other figures and media outlets. Opposition leader Yair Lapid, called the move “an act of madness” and said, “This is not Al Jazeera. This is an American news outlet. This government acts as if it has decided to make sure at any cost that Israel will be shunned all over the world.”
Israel has a long running feud with the Associated Press. In 2021, Israel blew up a building in Gaza that both the Associated Press and Hamas had offices in. The Associated Press condemned the attack and denied knowing Hamas operated there, but whistleblower accounts revealed terrorists freely roamed the building brandishing weapons and dictated coverage of Hamas’s activities in Gaza.
UPDATE 3:57 PM EST: Israel backtracked amidst fierce international backlash, and announced the equipment would be returned to the Associated Press later that day.