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Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

theguardian.com

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Re: Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

#361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are indeed restrictions on western foreign media. "Like all foreign news organizations operating in Israel, CNN’s Jerusalem bureau is subject to the rules of the Israel Defense Forces’s censor, which dictates subjects that are off-limits for news organizations to cover, and censors articles it deems unfit or unsafe to print. ... the military censor recently restricted eight subjects, including security cabinet…

This seems reasonable to me? If a western press were outside missile factories saying "this is the only place our super missiles are built!" I would expect the department of defence to block that information from being published...

Well the parent said there are no restrictions and there are restrictions.

Re: Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

#362

> Haarez has good coverage. For now. They are likely to be the next outlet banned. The government has been openly threatening them for a year or so now. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-11-23/ty-article/is...

In order for that to happen, a Shabak rep. Will have to provide statement that Haaretz poses serious threat to the national security of Israel. Call me when that happens (spoiler: it won’t).

Now that would make an interesting hn story.

[EDIT: sorry, having read the bill again, it's also required for Haaretz to be "a foreign news channel"]

Re: Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

#363
post #176

Just a point about Al Jazeera that is worth mentioning. There are two Al Jazeeras. One which is presented to Western audiences and one which is presented to Middle-Eastern audiences. The media and articles are politically aligned in each region. Don't assume what you read in the US/UK/wherever is the same as over there. In the case of Israel, the Middle-Eastern unit were literally showing videos demanding further upr…

> In the case of Israel, the Middle-Eastern unit were literally showing videos demanding further uprising against Israel across the region directly from Hamas

Have any citations?

Re: Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

#364
post #355
post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The EU has banned many Russian news sources rt.com, enter… loads instantaneously. sputnikglobe.com, enter… loads instantaneously. Please don’t lie. Edit: it was not a lie, my apologies. One of the most ineffectual bans I have ever seen.

Maybe not for whole EU, but I read it was banned in France, and I can confirm I cannot reach it now (from France).

I did some further research and technically the EU has banned them, but only from being broadcasted and they are supposed to be DNS-blocked but failing to do so is without legal consequences.

To me this is more a discouragement of promotion than any real ban, but I will edit my previous comment.

Re: Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

#365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems reasonable to me? If a western press were outside missile factories saying "this is the only place our super missiles are built!" I would expect the department of defence to block that information from being published...

That's unlawful in the United States, whose values Israel purportedly represents. It's called "prior restraint".

It’s very much legal in wartime, for exactly those sorts of purposes. Though I’m not sure we’ve tested the legality of it in this modern world where nobody actually formally declares war anymore—I don’t think it’s been attempted.

(Please don’t flame thinking I’m hardcore in support of a particular side in this war due to this post—you’ve very likely gotten the wrong impression. I’m commenting only on the narrow point that the US in fact can censor, including with prior restraint in certain circumstances, during war.)

Re: Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

#366
post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Europe has done the same with Russia. Also, I think a few other Arab countries like Egypt have blocked/banned Al Jazeera.

That's correct and IMHO its the right thing to do when shooting begins because when people shoot each other this is no longer a discussion and the press is part of the warfare. Remember all the Russian media and social media accounts claiming that its American hysteria that they will invade Ukraine? They denied and mocked anyone who claimed that they will invade up until the tanks rolled in. Personally, I'm critical…

I find it downright perverse to call genocide "retaliatory" and the act of covering it up "normal".

Re: Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

#367
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tik Tok isn't a news agency

Its not but it is being banned because people are getting their news from there and its not following the right narrative that the 'real' news agencies are failing at peddling to the public. Then again I could be wrong and the U.S government just doesn't like people people dancing, hard to tell which one is the reason behind it all.

Like sibling said, they've been pretty clear on the why. They called an emergency session and Senator Ricketts was pretty clear that they view pro-Palestinian tiktok content as Chinese propaganda that's inciting the youth to protest[0].

The administration has been threatening tiktok for two Presidental terms, but it wasn't until pro-Palestinian tiktok content had "more reach than the top 10 US news sites, combined" that they've taken broad bipartisan action.

I've personally experienced the propaganda that US mainstream media doles out, I know it's real; in my mind this smacks of leaders reacting in fear to the erosion of control over what the American people can know about what's happening in the war. This lines up exactly with Israel's muting of Al Jazzera.

Pretty amusing to watch sibling's link of Mitt Romney and the interviewer haltingly say "narrative" in hushed tones, like they know it's some kind of dirty word.

The thing with propaganda is that it needs to have parts rooted in truth in order to be effective outside total information control; I consider the ability to consume everyone's propaganda an essential tool in distilling the most truth possible in a world where media and leadership across the world are openly concerned with the breakdown of their PR (read propaganda).

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8apP1YYg2o

Re: Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

#368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems very reductive to just say that as if it is a fact. 90% of the claims I've seen about the IDF end up being just nonsense. I did pay very close attention to what happened with Shireen Abu-Akleh and I think that was definitely not dealt with in a satisfactory way.

"not dealt with in a satisfactory way" is exactly the justification that IDF has used after many similar circumstances. Let's say they just don't care, since there are no repercussions.

We should also keep in mind the Palestinians refused to allow the IDF to conduct its own forensic investigation. That's partly why the was no definite conclusion from the investigation into the matter. You can't demand that Israel investigate and then not enable it to do so.

"The US State Department subsequently announced on July 4 that tests by independent ballistics experts under U.S. oversight were not conclusive about the gun it was fired from but that US officials have concluded that gunfire from Israeli positions most likely killed Akleh and that there was "no reason to believe" her shooting was intentional. US investigators had "full access"[138] to both IDF and PA investigations.[139][140][141] The Palestinian Public Prosecutor's Office disputes the US conclusion that the bullet cannot be matched to a gun and maintains its position that the killing was premeditated.[142] On July 5, the US stressed that it did not conduct its own probe, but the conclusion was a "summation" of investigations by the Palestinian Authority and Israel.[143]" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shireen_Abu_Akleh#Subsequent_i...

Re: Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

#369
post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On what basis in Al Jazeera a fake news outlet?

[flagged]

That's not a solid basis for considering something to be "fake", let alone to be banned.

I could say that I have read and compared the BBC to Truth Social, and decided that BBC is "fake news"; that doesn't mean it's actually true.

Re: Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

#370

Is there anyone else who doesn't support either side of this conflict? They've been fighting each other for over 100 years. They both want the same piece of land. It's on them to figure it out. People around the world don't need to 'pick a side'. We can protest for both sides to sort their shit out, and not drag the rest of us into it.

I think lots of people don't really have a "side", other than the side of just not wanting to see people suffer. I don't think that closing your eyes to that is neutral. Sometimes "do nothing" is an act of evil.

In Northern Ireland and the Balkans international intervention almost certainly saved lives and helped bring about peace and relative stability. How long had they been fighting? There's probably some more examples. So I'd argue that it's not useless either.

And Jewish and Israeli (and by extension, Palestinian) history is strongly connected to the history of 19th and 20th century Europe in all sorts of ways, and I don't think you can just cleanly separate that.

Of course on a personal level I can imagine people reading the news, feeling powerless to change anything, and just not being interested. That's fine. But on a governmental/policy level, I do think we (the world) needs to stay engaged. Not just here, but also elsewhere with long-running issues. It's not our problem to solve, no, but we can facilitate and help.

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