The Israeli authorities' decision to prevent the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation from operating in Jerusalem and Israel is a blatant violation of press freedom

Stockholm - Skyline International for Human Rights condemns the decision of the Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, to ban the work of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) in Jerusalem and the Israeli territories. 

In a statement issued Tuesday, Skyline says it has reviewed the decision issued by the Israeli Defense Minister on  March 14 to ban activities related to the he Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation inside Israel, based on  the Law for the Implementation of the Middle East Agreement on the West Bank and Gaza Strip (Restriction of Activities) - 1994, which states that this order is valid for six months from its signing. 

Skyline states that, in accordance with the decision yesterday, Monday, March 20, the Israeli authorities closed the office of the company that provides media and production services to the official Palestinian media and summoned the employees working there. 

In this context, Skyline points out that the Israeli authorities have summoned a number of journalists for questioning, namely: Firas Hindawi, Yazan Haddad, Walid Qamar, and the two female journalists Layali Eid and Lana Kamel, about their journalistic work. 

Skyline reiterates that since the end of 2018, the Israeli authorities have been closing the office of Palestine TV, banning its activities throughout Jerusalem and Israel, and renewing the decision every six months, under the pretext that TV is affiliated with the Palestinian Authority. 

The Israeli human rights organization stressed that the decision was made due to Israeli attacks on journalistic work and media freedom in the occupied Palestinian territories, which is a violation of human rights conventions that guarantee the freedom of journalism.  

Accordingly, Skyline stresses that these violations are a blatant violation of the legal provisions that guarantee freedom of opinion, expression, and journalistic work, and criticizes the lack of any serious international positions to stop these violations. 

At the end of its statement, Skyline emphasizes  that  the negative role of the international community towards the Israeli authorities' violations of freedom of opinion, expression and journalistic work, especially the attacks on journalists, their arrest and the murder of some of them, as well as the closure of media institutions and the prevention of their work, constituted an implicit cover for Israel's continued violations, without regard to the blatant legal violations of the rules of international.