Israeli officials have reversed a decision to seize journalism equipment from the Associated Press on Tuesday in a move that had initially been widely criticized.
The AP had been sharing its broadcast feed of northern Gaza with al Jazeera, as it does with thousands of other news outlets across the globe, but the Israeli government recently closed the outlet’s broadcaster operations earlier this month after passing a new law, citing national security concerns.
Al Jazeera is a Qatari news outlet, and Israeli leaders have long accused the publication of bias against the country. Israel closed the news outlet’s offices earlier this month.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi initially announced the move, only to renege hours later. He said the Israeli Ministry of Defense would “re-examine the matter of broadcasts from sensitive locations and their effect on the risk of our forces” and added that “in light of this, the Communications Minister ordered that the equipment be returned to the AP agency at this stage, until the security opinion is received and the issue re-examined.”
The AP initially denounced the move, arguing that it was an abuse of the new foreign broadcaster law.
“The Associated Press decries in the strongest terms the actions of the Israeli government to shut down our longstanding live feed showing a view into Gaza and seize AP equipment,” said Lauren Easton, the vice president of corporate communications at the AP. “The shutdown was not based on the content of the feed but rather an abusive use by the Israeli government of the country’s new foreign broadcaster law.”
“We urge the Israeli authorities to return our equipment and enable us to reinstate our live feed immediately so we can continue to provide this important visual journalism to thousands of media outlets around the world,” Easton said.
Earlier this month, Israeli officials used this law to close al Jazeera’s office, and they confiscated the channel’s equipment, banned its broadcasts, and blocked its websites.
Israel’s opposition leader, Yair Lapid, called the initial move against the AP “an act of madness.”
“This is not al Jazeera. This is an American news outlet,” he said. “This government acts as if it has decided to make sure at any cost that Israel will be shunned all over the world.”
Karhi was quick to rebuke Lapid’s criticism prior to the reversal.
“To remind you, the law and the orders signed unanimously by the government, with the overwhelming support of all the security forces, state that devices used to deliver [al Jazeera] content must be seized from any person or corporation,” he said. “All the more so in this case that the AP people were warned in advance by the law last week and refused to stop providing service to this terrorist channel.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called the decision “concerning” and said the United States was “looking into” it prior to its reversal. “We’ve always been clear the importance of the work that you all do, the work that journalists do.”
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National Press Club President Emily Wilkins said this is the latest in “a pattern of aggression against journalism organizations by Israel,” adding that “the lengths to which Israel is willing to go to stop news coverage of the military action in Gaza must not be overlooked by the media still covering the conflict and the public at large.”
Israel’s war with Hamas has been difficult to cover from Gaza, given Israel’s tight control of the strip and its overwhelming aerial campaign. More than 100 journalists have been killed during the war, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
During a previous round of fighting between Israel and Hamas in 2021, the Israeli army destroyed the building housing AP’s Gaza office, saying Hamas had used the building for military purposes.