Israel accuses AP news agency of violating a controversial media law then backpedals

Israel’s communications minister ordered the government to return a camera and broadcasting equipment it had seized from the The Associated Press, reversing course hours after blocking the news organization’s live video of Gaza.

The government seized the AP equipment from a location in southern Israel after accusing it of violating a new media law by providing images to the satellite channel Al Jazeera.

Israeli officials used the new law on May 5 to close down Qatar-based Al Jazeera within Israel, confiscating its equipment, banning its broadcasts and blocking its websites.

After Israel seized the AP equipment, the Biden administration, journalism organizations and an Israeli opposition leader condemned the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and pressured it to reverse the decision.

“As soon as we learned about the reports, the White House and the State Department immediately engaged with the Government of Israel at high levels to express our serious concern and ask them to reverse this action,” said Adrienne Watson, a spokesperson for the National Security Council. 

Israel’s communications minister, Shlomo Karhi, said late Tuesday (May. 21) on the social platform X: “I have now ordered to cancel the action and return the equipment to the AP.”

Karhi said the defense ministry will undertake a review of news outlets’ positioning of live video of Gaza. Officials hadn’t previously told AP the positioning of its live camera was an issue. Instead, they repeatedly noted that the images appeared in real-time on Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera is one of thousands of AP customers, and it receives live video from AP and other news organizations.

Use of foreign broadcaster law in question

“While we are pleased with this development, we remain concerned about the Israeli government’s use of the foreign broadcaster law and the ability of independent journalists to operate freely in Israel,” said Lauren Easton, vice president of corporate communications at the news organization.

Officials from the Communications Ministry arrived at the AP location in the southern town of Sderot on Tuesday afternoon and seized the equipment. They handed the AP a piece of paper, signed by Karhi, alleging it was violating the country’s foreign broadcaster law.

Shortly before its equipment was seized on Tuesday, AP was broadcasting a general view of northern Gaza. The AP complies with Israel’s military censorship rules, which prohibit broadcasts of details like troop movements that could endanger soldiers. The live video has generally shown smoke rising over the territory.

The AP had been ordered verbally on May 16 to cease the live transmission, which it refused to do.

Israel’s opposition leader Yair Lapid called the government’s move against AP “an act of madness.”

Karhi responded to Lapid that the law passed unanimously by the government states that any device used to deliver Al Jazeera content could be seized.

When Israel closed down Al Jazeera’s offices earlier this month, media groups warned of the serious implications for press freedom in the country. The law gives Karhi, part of the hard-right flank of Netanyahu’s Likud Party, wide leeway to enforce it against other media.

“Israel’s move today is a slippery slope,” the Foreign Press Association said in a statement on Tuesday, warning that the law “could allow Israel to block media coverage of virtually any news event on vague security grounds.”

Israel has long had a rocky relationship with Al Jazeera, accusing it of bias against the country, and Netanyahu has called it a “terror channel” that spreads incitement.

Al Jazeera is one of the few international news outlets that has remained in Gaza throughout the war, broadcasting scenes of airstrikes and overcrowded hospitals and accusing Israel of massacres.