Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices • Hacker News Board

Re: Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

#701

Post by Aeolun » Mon, May 06, 2024, 8:57 AM UTC

mrtksn wrote: post #330

angra_mainyu wrote: post #244

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…

Just because it’s normal doesn’t mean it’s morally correct.

If they had nothing to fear from it they wouldn’t do it.

Israel fearing anything from Hamas is laughable, so what they really fear is their own citizens.

Re: Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

#702

Post by indigo945 » Mon, May 06, 2024, 8:57 AM UTC

jquery wrote: post #600

xdennis wrote: post #513

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I did not read the whole thing, I read far enough to realize the methodology was garbage. The article basically says anyone ever associated with Hamas or resisting the IDF is a legitimate military target. Let's try switching that around. Anyone who served in the IDF or spoke positively of a successful attack of Israel against Palestine is a legitimate military target and not a journalist? No, this is obviously nonsen…

You conflate average Gazans who "said a few epithets towards Israel" with those who "promoted and celebrated terrorism and the death of innocent civilians".

Re: Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

#703

Post by Der_Einzige » Mon, May 06, 2024, 8:59 AM UTC

bink wrote: post #397

jay-barronville wrote: post #344

As Americans, we’re constantly told, “Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East.” The narrative is always that they’re “our greatest ally” because we share similar values to them. Well, one of our values—in fact, a constitutionally protected one—is press freedom. Al Jazeera has been the only media/news outlet in Israel that offered the Palestinian perspective and they’ve shut it down. As a rule, you’re probably…

Of course the US just voted to ban TikTok for vague national security reasons, so maybe we do have a lot in common.

That TikTok ban will likely be overturned by the Supreme Court on first amendment grounds.

Re: Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

#704

Post by Der_Einzige » Mon, May 06, 2024, 9:00 AM UTC

bottlepalm wrote: post #11

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.

Ah yes, the zero state solution! Give the whole damn region back to turkey and recreate the Ottoman Empire!

Re: Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

#705

Post by atypeoferror » Mon, May 06, 2024, 9:00 AM UTC

moi2388 wrote: post #628

[flagged]

That's a bold assertion - do you have any evidence to support this? I find that they do plenty of great journalism, often bringing stories that don't make it into the english-language media via other outlets. For example, just from today an article on the fight for Iraqi waterway restoration: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/longform/2024/5/4/dont-be...

In general, the Features page (https://www.aljazeera.com/features/) doesn't exactly smack of Islamic propaganda - so curious to see how you came to this conclusion.

Re: Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

#706

Post by gaoryrt » Mon, May 06, 2024, 9:01 AM UTC

sampa wrote: post #225

remember, when a hostile state does it - it is because they're dictatorial. when a friendly state does it - it is because it was a threat to democracy. don't confuse 'em

sarcasm detected, upvote-button clicked.

Re: Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

#707

Post by hardlianotion » Mon, May 06, 2024, 9:01 AM UTC

angra_mainyu wrote: post #244

Animats wrote: post #150

"and block its websites." So this keeps Israelis from reading Al Jazeera. Now that's new. Israel started Internet censorship in 2017.[1] Initially it was limited to "terror group websites, online illegal gambling, prostitution services, hard drug sales". At the time, "due to warnings from rights groups that the law poses a slippery slope toward additional censorship, the final version of the legislation dictates that…

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

If you believe that RT is an organisation that is not interested in the truth, but is set up purely to disrupt and disturb, then a government can reasonably want to prevent its operation.

Adding plausible noise to information causes people to have to do much more work to discern between what is true and what is not, time that many people do not have.

A reluctance to ban a bad-faith organisation is good: a moral society should thoroughly debate why it might undertake a repressive thing. But you cannot wish away the effects of corrosive and coercive behaviour because the act of banning a such an organisation is repressive.

A poor but useful analogy is use of violence in society. Violence is a bad thing, but to absolutely forswear it in all situations is something that very few governments will do, for reasons that seem quite justified to me.

Re: Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

#708

Post by mrtksn » Mon, May 06, 2024, 9:02 AM UTC

Aeolun wrote: post #701

mrtksn wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Just because it’s normal doesn’t mean it’s morally correct. If they had nothing to fear from it they wouldn’t do it. Israel fearing anything from Hamas is laughable, so what they really fear is their own citizens.

They have a lot to fear from their citizens knowing that what they hear from their officials is not all the truth.

Some time in the future, when someone mentions the Jewish genocide, people will ask if they mean the one happened to them or the one they did.

Obviously the current Israeli government will want to control the information flow so they can proceed with their final solution to the Gaza issue. They will also try to control what comes out of Gaza to avoid the consequences of their actions.

Re: Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

#709

Post by ofirg » Mon, May 06, 2024, 9:04 AM UTC

I support closing the offices and making them persona non grata, but blocking the site is wrong and silly, makes us look like we are afraid of words.

Re: Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

#710

Post by cyclecount » Mon, May 06, 2024, 9:06 AM UTC

Al Jazeera claims this is direct retaliation for their 7 Oct documentary which is a very thorough analysis of some of the more extreme claims made by the IDF about what happened that day. Ironically, this documentary uses the Israeli government's own information as its initial primary source (including the official record of who died that day).

The documentary can be viewed in full on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0atzea-mPY