Palestinian TV station airs in Gaza after IDF shutters West Bank HQ

A Palestinian media outlet whose West Bank headquarters were shut down Thursday by Israel continued to broadcast from the Gaza Strip on Friday. Islamic Jihad, the terror group with links to the TV station, also held a solidarity rally in Gaza on Friday.

The offices of the Palestine al-Yawm (Palestine Today) station were shuttered over its “inciting broadcasts” and connection with a terrorist organization, the IDF said in a statement Friday morning.

The Islamic Jihad terrorist organization, which is linked to Palestine al-Yawm, and dozens of other Palestinian factions gathered outside the station’s offices in Gaza on Friday in a show of support, Israel’s Channel 2 television said.

“The occupation will not succeed in silencing the voice of truth,” said Daoud Shihab, an Islamic Jihad spokesman. “The Palestinian resistance and free media will continue on their path and will not fall — they will continue to expose the crimes of the occupation.”

The group told the assembled crowd that the outlet would continue “to recruit the public against the Israeli aggressor,” Channel 2 said.

Jamil Mazhar, a representative of a militant branch of Islamic Jihad, called the closure a “blatant violation of the law,” and urged media outlets around the world to demonstrate against it.

“The ongoing crime against journalists and media outlets demands a united front,” another militant Jihad member said.

Officials from the Shin Bet security service, flanked by soldiers and representatives from the Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration, entered the Palestine al-Yawm offices in Ramallah on Thursday night and confiscated transmitters and other technical equipment, the army said.

Palestine al-Yawm’s owner, Farouk Omar Kassem Aliat, was also arrested in the raid, although it was not immediately clear on what charges. Aliat has a history of affiliation with Islamic Jihad, and was imprisoned by Israel in the past over links to the terror group.

Central Command chief Maj.-Gen. Roni Numa issued a closure order for Palestine al-Yawm “in light of the inciting broadcasts that have been heard on their radio station,” the IDF said.

“The station is a part of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization and constitutes an illegal association,” the army added.

The outlet broadcasts via radio, television and online “with an emphasis on social media,” the Shin Bet said in its own statement after the raid.

“The station was apparently used by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization as a central instrument in inciting the population of the West Bank, as it called for terror attacks to be carried out against the State of Israel and its residents,” the agency said.

A video shot by some of the station’s employees appears to show the places where equipment had been taken by IDF troops.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ljIiIekiGQ

Israeli leaders have spoken out repeatedly about the threat of incitement in Palestinian media, while Palestinian television programs are cited repeatedly in Shin Bet interrogations of terrorists as sources of inspiration.

The Thursday night raids came just hours after the security cabinet approved a series of anti-terror measures, including immediate work to seal off gaps in the security fence in the Jerusalem area and to complete construction of the barrier in the area of Tarkumiya, south of the Hebron Hills.

Among the steps on the agenda were fast-tracking legislation to crack down on those employing or assisting Palestinians who illegally enter Israel from the West Bank, shutting down Palestinian media channels which broadcast incitement to terror attacks against Israelis, expanding prosecution against those who incite, the cancellation of work and trade permits held by family members and close acquaintances of terrorists, as well as cutting down the time it takes to demolish the homes of terrorists.