Tag Archive for Freedom of the Press

Hamas Sentences Female Journalist in Absentia for Exposing Common Corruption in Gaza & PA

Hajer Harb, a female Palestinian journalist who is currently receiving medical treatment in Jordan for cancer, was found guilty and sentenced in absentia by a Hamas court for exposing a corrupt health care system in Gaza and under Abbas’ PA, where patients are extorted if they seek better treatment.

 

A Palestinian journalist who exposed corruption in the Gaza Strip was prosecuted by Hamas, the terrorist group that governs the enclave, veteran Palestinian affairs correspondent Khaled Abu Toameh reported Monday.

Palestinian journalist, Hajer Harb reporting from a Hamas training center in Gaza. – Screenshot: Hager Press/YouTube

In June 2016, Hajer Harb reported that Hamas and the Palestinian Authority extorted Palestinians seeking medical care in Israel, Europe and elsewhere in the Arab world. Continue Reading »

Israel offers Iranian journalist asylum in Israel

Responding to a request by the Jerusalem Journalists Association, Israel’s Interior Minister commented, “This is a journalist whose life is in real danger, only because of writing columns on an Israeli news website.”

By Mordechai Sones

 

Interior Minister Aryeh Deri responded to a request by the Jerusalem Journalists Association and the National Journalists Association to approve entry into Israel of Iranian journalist Nada Amin, who writes for the Times of Israel.

Israel’s Interior Minister Aryeh Deri – Photo: Wikipedia

Amin is currently in Turkey, where she fled from Iran three years ago. Turkey has already announced that she will be deported in coming days from Turkey to Iran, where she is expected to be sentenced to death. Continue Reading »

Autocrat Mahmoud Abbas censors news websites critical to his rule

 

Human Rights Watch has accused Abbas’ gov’t of arresting and abusing local journalists and activists critical of PA policies, seen as a violation of media freedom and freedom of speech.

By i24NEWS

 

The Palestinian Authority government in the West Bank has blocked 11 news websites associated with their Gaza-based rivals Hamas and other political adversaries critical of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, according to Arabic media reports.

Autocrat of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas – AP

The shutdowns were ordered by the Palestinian Attorney General’s office, with Palestinian media outlets quoting one anonymous official as saying that the sites blocked were in “violation of the rules of publications” which bars the dissemination of alleged fake news and defamation. Continue Reading »

US backed Palestinian government shuts newspaper over political disagreement

 

The Arab newspaper branded the closure as politically motivate because of embarrassing reports of PA security coordination with Israel, and alleged torture within the Palestinian jails.

By REUTERS

 

The Palestinian administration in the West Bank shut down the local office of a pan-Arab newspaper this week after accusing it of “offensive” reporting on Palestinian security coordination with Israel, officials said.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas attends a ceremony in Ramallah. – Photo: REUTERS

The Palestinian administration in the West Bank shut down the local office of a pan-Arab newspaper this week after accusing it of “offensive” reporting on Palestinian security coordination with Israel, officials said. Continue Reading »

Pamela Geller: ‘To Not Offend Savages, We’re Giving Up Our Freedoms’

WATCH: After the Texas attack, anti-Islamist activist Pamela Geller speaks out, slamming ‘media elites’ for denigrating those who offend Islam.

By Ari Soffer

 

Pamela Geller, the outspoken head of the American Freedom Defense Initiative, has spoken out after her group’s Mohammed Cartoon event was targeted in a shooting attack by Muslim terrorists on Sunday night.

Pamela Geller – Reuters

In an interview with CNN, Geller lashed out at the media “elites” for criticizing her group – the attackers’ intended victims – as opposed to radical Islamists responsible for such violent attacks.

The event had offered a $10,000 award for the best cartoon depicting the founder of Islam, Mohammed, and featured a speech by Dutch MP Geert Wilders, among other prominent critics of Islam. Continue Reading »

Palestinian journalists: Our Freedom of Speech is in danger

 

Despite promises from the PA to honor freedom of the press, dozens of Palestinian journalists protest recent arrests & detentions, as tensions regarding journalistic freedom of speech escalate

By Diana Atallah, The Media Line

Issues of press freedoms under the Palestinian Authority continued as dozens of journalists organized a demonstration outside of Prime Minister Rami Al-Hamdallah’s office, protesting the recent detention of a colleague and calling for an investigation into similar arrests.

Illustration - Photo: Shutterstock

Illustration – Photo: Shutterstock

The day before the protest, Sami Al-Sa’i, a Tulkarem based reporter for the local Wattan news agency, was called in by Palestinian intelligence officers for an interrogation. Continue Reading »

Hamas closes Al Arabiya & 2 other media offices in Gaza

 

Security forces even closed down the Palestinian news agency Maan, all for
“reporting false news, fabrications and lies.”

By REUTERS
 

 

Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas closed the offices of three media companies, including the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television and Palestinian news agency Maan, on Thursday, employees and a Hamas spokesman said.

PALESTINIAN SECURITY forces loyal to Hamas patrol the border area between Egypt and southern Gaza.

PALESTINIAN SECURITY forces loyal to Hamas patrol the border area between Egypt and southern Gaza.- Photo: REUTERS

Al Arabiya and Maan employees said Hamas security men had arrived at their offices with an order from the attorney general to shut down immediately and a Hamas spokesman said the step was temporary, until an investigation was concluded.

Continue Reading »

Another Palestinian journalist arrested by Abbas’ security for reporting on Fatah

Abbas’s Security forces arrest Palestinian journalist for reporting on leaflet calling for the resignation of Bethlehem’s Mayor

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

 

 
Palestinian Authority security forces on Monday arrested Palestinian journalist George Canawati, director of Bethlehem Radio 2000, for reporting about a leaflet distributed by Fatah’s armed wing, Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
A masked militant from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades of the Fatah movement in Hebron, August 3, 2008. - Photo REUTERS-Nayef Hashlamoun

A masked militant from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades of the Fatah movement in Hebron, August 3, 2008. – Photo: REUTERS/Nayef Hashlamoun

The PA prosecutor-general ordered the arrest of Canawati for 48 hours.
Canawati is accused of reporting on his radio station about the leaflet, which attacked Bethlehem Mayor Vera Baboun, and called for her resignation.

Continue Reading »

Abbas’ P.A. crackdown on local journalists continues

Despite promises from the PA to honor freedom of the press, this past week PA security forces have again detained & interrogated journalists.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

 

 

Despite promises to honor freedom of the media, the Palestinian Authority is counting its crackdown on Palestinian journalists in the West Bank.

PA PoliceIn the past week, PA security forces interrogated and detained two journalists: Haroun Abu Arrah and Omar Arqoub.

Abu Arrah, hisho was born in Jenin and lives in Ramallah, was detained by the PA’s General Intelligence Security [GIS] for interrogation.

He told the SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom: “I went to the headquarters of the GIS two days after receiving a summons.

Continue Reading »

PA arrests Palestinian over participating in Al Jazeera course

Journalist is facing incarceration by Palestinian Authority security forces for visiting Qatar to participate in Al-Jazeera training program.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

 

A Palestinian journalist from the West Bank complained Tuesday that Palestinian Authority security forces have been harassing him ever since he visited Qatar.
The Doha skyline - Photo REUTERS

The Doha skyline – Photo REUTERS

The journalist, Tarek al-Sarkaji, said that if visiting Qatar were a crime in the eyes of the PA security forces, then they should also arrest PA President Mahmoud Abbas for visiting the Gulf country.

Al-Sarkaji, who lives in Nablus and also works as a TV producer, said his problems began when he return to the West Bank after attending a training course for the Doha-based Al-Jazeera TV station.

Continue Reading »

IDF Censor to Monitor Journalists’ Social Media Accounts

The IDF censor will now monitor journalists’ and bloggers’ social media accounts – and you don’t even have to be Israeli

The IDF military censor will be assuming a more ominous role as it begins monitoring the social media accounts of Israeli journalists and bloggers for potential violation of censorship provisions.

Sima Vaknin-Gil

Sima Vaknin-Gil באדיבות המכללה האקדמית נתניה-

Col. Sima Vaknin-Gil told attendees at the Digit 2012 conference at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya, that the new system will monitor visual and textual information on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, on blogs and on traditional news sites.

“The new system will examine information using key words labeled in advance,” she said, stressing it would help her office monitor information that was previously difficult to track. Continue Reading »