Israel arrests four Hamas journalists
The four men worked for banned affiliate Al-Quds Television
Israeli security forces arrested four Palestinian journalists working for the Hamas-affiliated Al Quds TV station in Hebron overnight Monday, announced the IDF said.
The four men arrested in Ramallah were identified as Ala Rimawi, who runs the Al-Quds television station in the West Bank, and freelance journalists Mohammad Ulwan, Husni Injass and Qutaibah Hamdan.
During the joint operation – which was carried out by IDF troops from the Binyamin and Ephraim Regional Brigades and the Shin Bet (Israel security agency) – technical equipment, vehicles and personal computers were confiscated.
The al-Quds channel, which first broadcasted in October 2008 from Beirut and had channels in Ramallah and Jerusalem, was banned from operating in Israel earlier this month by Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) and the Palestinian Ministry of Information both condemned the arrests and called for the United Nations to intervene in what they described as “a dangerous assault on freedom of expression, opinion and journalism.”
The PJS described the arrests as “piracy and a new assault on the Palestinian media,” according to Palestinian news agency Wafa, adding that the move was “part of the ongoing war by the occupation on freedom of expression and the Palestinian narrative and an attempt to conceal the crimes of the occupation against the Palestinian people.”
Wafa quoted the Palestinian Ministry of Information as calling the arrests “a continuation of the open aggression on the guardians of truth and media outlets, as well as proof of Israel’s disrespect for international resolutions that guarantee freedom of journalistic work.”
The arrests, it added, “is part of Israeli attempts to terrorize journalists and to silence them.”
In a separate operation, security forces also launched a large-scale operation against the Hamas student cell at universities in Hebron.
Materials deemed by the IDF to be incitement to terrorist activity were confiscated, and warnings were given to the families of the students.
Security forces also arrested five Hamas members in Kalkilya for their involvement in promoting and inciting Hamas terrorist activity in recent months, the IDF said.
During the operations, violent riots broke out in three locations. The IDF responded with crowd dispersal means.
The army said that Israeli security forces “will continue working against incitement to terrorism in order to prevent terrorism and to protect the security of residents.”
Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.