Israel detains journalists on suspicions of working for Al Jazeera
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May 12 (UPI) -- Israel has detained journalists that authorities incorrectly believed were working for Al Jazeera, the news broadcaster banned from the country for its coverage of Israel's war in Gaza.
The arrests were revealed by The New Arab, an English-language news website covering Middle Eastern affairs and based in London. It is the sister publication of Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, an Arabic-language news outlet.
The journalists who were arrested were working for Al-Araby Al-Jadeed on Saturday night while covering protests in Tel Aviv calling for a hostage deal. According to Israeli journalist Oran Ziv, the crew was questioned after authorities saw live footage of the protests broadcasted by Al-Jazeera despite being banned.
"The Ministry of Communication didn't think about the option Al Jazeera Is probably using a live feed of one of the international agencies that are present in all the protests for a hostage deal, as they are banned from reporting from Israel," Ziv said on social media.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government decided last weekend to raid the Jerusalem offices of Al Jazeera and shutter the broadcaster, ironically just after World Press Freedom Day, a move critics blasted as a blow to press freedom.
Al Jazeera, in a news article covering its own closure, noted that it has "repeatedly rejected" accusations made by Netanyahu's government.
