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Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

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Re: Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

#931

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.

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 socie…

> you believe that RT is an organisation that is not interested in the truth, [...] then a government can reasonably want to prevent its operation.

Except it's not what you believe that matters, but what the Ministry of Truth says.

Re: Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

#932

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really appreciate works like Death of Stalin that are more than happy to move things around in the name of entertainment. It isn't a documentary so it has the freedom to get creative and hit the key notes rather than pure accuracy. They also just said "No need to have Russian accents, the audience is smart enough to just go with what you have."

Using an accent without also speaking the right language seems needless. I do like that Hunt for Red October has the Russians all speak Russian until one of them says a crucial word that's the same in English, and from there it's all English. "Armageddon". This submarine is capable of ICBM launch, starting World War III, and in the resulting ashes English or Russian would not matter.

Hadn't noticed this before, seems very clever

Re: Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

#933

I don't agree with Israel censoring websites, but important to keep in mind Al Jazeera is run by Qatar which is a monarchy without real freedom of the press, it's not CNN. They have strong regional interests and an obvious desire to shape the narrative of the conflict. They're not humanitarians.

Al Jazeera has much more extensive coverage of Israel/Palestine than CNN does, and I would compare Al Jazeera favorably with CNN, overall. CNN and Al Jazeera definitely have different biases, but if you just want to know what's going on in Gaza, you watch Al Jazeera, not CNN.

> They're not humanitarians.

They're a news organization.

Re: Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

#934
post #655
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…

It's a bit ironic how we are constantly reminded that china isn't a democracy because they have censorship, while we are free and democratic and don't have censorship (except we do). Italy is passing laws to be able to block websites within 30 minutes, without any oversight from any judge. (more details here, link in italian https://stop-piracy-shield.it/ )

> china isn't a democracy because they have censorship

You got that wrong. The reason China is not a democracy, is instead that it is a dictatorship, that's why it's not a democracy.

Democracies can have censorship, there's no contradiction. (Although less common.)

For example, IMO it's good to censor some of Putin's manipulation, because most people are dangerously easy to fool. It's a mistake to let an enemy state broadcast their psychological warfare unhindered.

Re: Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

#935
post #877

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And if foreign journalists want to get into Palestine, they have other options... First, they don't. All crossings are controlled by Israel. There's a reason why you have a lot of foreign reporting on the ground from Syria civil war and nothing from Gaza. (I noted your switch from Gaza to Palestine, btw) And journalistic agencies complain about this repeatedly. 10% of journalists killed (against 2% of total populat…

> All crossings are controlled by Israel. This is false. Israel does not control Egypt's or Jordan's borders. > To me, it looks like majority were killed intentionally based on that list. By CPJ's own account, that list is not verified: > Our database will not include all of these casualties until we have completed further investigations into the circumstances surrounding them. For more information, read our FAQ. I d…

> Today: "BREAKING| Security sources to Al Aqsa TV: Three Israeli tanks are stationed 200 meters away from the Rafah border crossing and have fired several shells at buildings on the border crossing."

No control. Right.

Re: Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

#936
post #927

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A better way to engage than to allude to some TV series is to rather look for and present any information that suggests this is not the case, that suggests that there is in fact wide spread opposition to the war in Gaza and widespread support for an independent Palestinian state. Before the October 7, only 35% of Israelis (41% Arab and 32% Jewish) thought a way can be found for Israel and an independent Palestinian s…

I think we should still take notice that polls can be manipulated and we have to be careful with the wording. Also people are prone to agreeing to good sounding abstract things but then disagreeing and voting or acting in another way when it comes down to it.

As far as I can tell, the evidence that getting rid of Netanyahu will drastically ramp down of Israeli military policy just does not exist. The only way to support that view is to ignore all the evidence that is available. People may not like Netanyahu, but they don't dislike him because he is fighting Hamas, and they don't dislike them because he is not agreeing to a Palestinian state.

Re: Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

#937
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…

> Why would you allow that to continue in your country? We have a constitution that protects our rights, and among them a right to make up our minds on the basis of an uncensored discourse. That's the other, implicit half of the first amendment: the right to listen to what others want to tell you.

I'm not aware of any country with a constitution that prohibits all manners of media censorship and I'm also not aware of any country that does not have some level of media censorship that it engages in. What country are you talking about?

Re: Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

#938

TBH I don't care to extend charity like freedom of speech to people that don't share our liberal values. Sure, the bar should be very high for such charges, but organizations like Al Jazeera have repeatedly shown their colors.

Ah yes, freedom of speech works best when limited only to people who share your values. Truly our greatest allies in democracy.

True! Couldn't have said it better myself. I don't even share a democracy with Qatar, haha.

Re: Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

#939

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both India and China produce their own fascistic propaganda supporting Russia. I wouldn't blame the EU for banning the Global Times.

But isn’t that just an argument in favor of censorship?

Yes it is?

Re: Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices

#940
post #827

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is the parent comment [flagged] yet this one is not?

Now I'm curious as to what they said

They’re referring to me by first name (rather than my handle) and suggesting I kill myself.

I have never previously had such a comment on HN in the last 16 years.

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