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Violations of media freedom in Palestine increased to 46 in February

Ramallah – 20,March, 2022 – The violations against Media Freedom continued to increase in the second month of the year 2022, “MADA” Center  documented a total of 46 violations in comparative with a 27 violations were documented in January, 2022.

The Israeli attacks against journalists increased in Jerusalem and Nablus cities during thier coverage  of Palestinian  activities against Israeli settlement expansion in West Bank, and taking over a Palestinian house in Shikh Jarah Neighborhood in Jerusalem, beside of the increasing of Israeli attacks against Journalists while they were covering the weekly Palestinian protests in the villages of Beita and Beit Djan near  Nabus North of West Bank.

The Violations that took Place Last February were distributed as follows:

  • 39 Violations by Israeli soldiers.
  • 4 Violations by Palestinian Security forces.
  • 3 Violations by Social Media networks.

It has to be mentioned that the German Deutsche Welle network dismissed 5 Arab Journalists including 3 Palestinian, accusing them of "anti-Semitism", one of those Journalists is Maram Salem was dismissed after her post on Facebook Criticizing the freedom of speech in Europe, meanwhile, the Journalists Zaher Alawi, and Yasser Abu Mulik was dismissed also in cause of their posts on Facebook denouncing the Israeli Attacks on Gaza Strip.

 

The Israeli Violations:

38 Israeli violations were documented Last month, which  constituted 46% of the total of Israeli violations in comparative with Previous one, 18 Israeli Violations were documented. Most of those violations described as a serious ones against Journalists and Media freedom in Palestine.

Physical attacks (20 Attacks), included the injury of 7 journalists, while the occupation forces targeted 6 journalists with the aim of preventing coverage, and used 6 journalists as human shields to protect them from the stones of the demonstrators in  Beita village.

Among the physical attacks, 6 journalists were subjected to beatings by the Israeli occupation forces, while media Coverage in Jabal Sobeih in the town of Beita. 4 of them were severely beaten by Israeli soldiers.

The occupation forces prevented 7 journalists from media coverage in the occupied city of Jerusalem, claiming that they did not have an Israeli press card, while covering the demonstrations in solidarity with the Salem family, who are threatened to vacate their home in favor of the settlers after an Israeli order was issued to evict them.

“MADA” has documented one arresting case in February by Israeli soldiers, against the Director of Media and Public relations in the Prisoners affairs Authority (Thaer Shreteh” who was sentenced to 31 days in a prison and a fine of 2000 NIS, it also detained Photographer to prevent him from media coverage.

 

Social Media Networks:

The social media networks violation decreased in last February, “MADA” documented 3 violations by “META” constituted 7% from the whole violations, meanwhile 6 Social Network violations were documented in the previous month.

Facebook suspended the main account of Raya FM radio presenter, Zaid Ataya, for a period of one month. Facebook also restricted the reserve account of journalist “Ataya” for a temporary period that was not specified.

Facebook also restricted the account of the director of the "Al Arabiya Media Consulting" company, journalist Hatem Khweis, and prevented him from publishing on other groups, and deleted some of the publications he had posted on the pretext of violating the site's policy and standards.

The Palestinian Violations:

4 Violations been documented by “MADA” FROM Palestinian security against Journalists in February, which constituted 9% of the whole Violations in the month, in comparing with 3 Violations in the previous month.

The Palestinian security violations which occurred in West Bank were against 4 journalists. The Preventive Security Service in the city of Nablus summoned the director of Asda'a office, Amin Abu Warda, and subjected him to investigation about his media work, the same security apparatus summoned  the freelancer journalist Ayman Qawariq for interrogation.

“MADA” documented a case of threat to the journalist Hatem Khweis through a phone call he received from a Palestinian police officer, after he posted on Facebook expressing his opinion on the incident of the occupation forces' assassination of the three young men in Al-Makhfieh neighborhood in Nablus city. “MADA” also monitored a violation related to publishing fabricated news that impersonated the Quds News Network.

Violations Details:

Feb, 4th: The occupation forces targeted a group of journalists with bullets, and detained the freelance photographer, Wahaj Bani Mufleh, while covering the clashes between the citizens and the Israeli soldiers on Mount Sabih in the village of Beita, south of Nablus, on Friday.

J-media photographer Laith Basem Jaar, 25 years old stated to Mada Center, that he was. on Jebel Sobeih in the village of Beita to cover the weekly demonstration against the establishment of a settlement on Jebel Sobeih in the village, along with his colleague, the Kufiya TV reporter, Rajaa Maarouf Jaber. (49 years old) the demonstrators headed towards an area called “Al-Hoti,” where clashes erupted between them and the occupation soldiers, who were distributed at different points in the vicinity of the mountain, the  soldiers seemed "more violent than ever," he said.

In the afternoon, the "J-media" agency cameraman Al-Jaar was completing coverage next to his colleague, photographer Wahaj Bani Mufleh, in the presence of the Al-Ghad TV crew,  reporter Khaled Badir and cameraman Hazem Nasser, Israeli soldiers fired gas bombs and rubber bullets at them extensively, which led to the injury of the cameraman, Jaar.

Laith returned to complete his work, and after about 10 minutes, he was re-targeted with a rubber bullet hitting his left shoulder. He also received field treatment in the same place by medical staff. Several minutes later, in the same event, Al Kufiya TV reporter, Raja Marouf Jabr, was hit by a metal bullet causing damage to her jaw. After she and her colleague moved to another place and started the live broadcast, she was targeted by the occupation soldiers again with several tear gas canisters and metal bullets, as a bullet hit her in the left side of her face in the jaw.

The freelance photographer, Wahaj Jamal Bani Mufleh also reported to Mada Center that he was on Mount Sobeih in the village of Beita, while he was taking pictures of an Israeli soldier assaulting a protesting youth, one of the soldiers approached him and prevented him, and tried to confiscate his camera and mobile phone, and then be detained for an hour.

 

Feb,11th: Journalist Hatem Khweis was threatened over the phone by a Palestinian police officer after his post on Facebook expressing his opinion about the assassination of three young men by the occupation forces in the Al-Makhfieh neighborhood in Nablus, which was carried out by the occupationforces, which led to the restriction of its content.

In his testimony to Mada Center, he received a phone call from a Palestinian police officer, who told him that he would like to convey a message to him that he - that is, Hatem - "provided it", and told him that a group of security services had contacted the officer to be a mediator between them and Hatem to stop writing about the issue of the assassination of the three young men once and for all, and he should stop talking about Minister Hussein Al-Sheikh's reaction to this matter.

A day later, Khweiss started receiving many reports against his posts on Facebook on a daily basis, which led to the restriction of his account and preventing him from publishing on other groups on the pretext of violating the site's policy and standards, as indicated in the Facebook message. And the Facebook application deleted some of the posts that the journalist published more than once, but he was able to restore them after writing to the site’s administration.

 

Feb,11th: The Israeli occupation forces prevented a group of journalists from performing their work while covering the weekly confrontations in  Beita, south of Nablus on Friday, while Israeli soldiers used them as human shields, which led to the injury of a Reuters photographer, Raneen Sawafta with a stone in her hand, and assaulted journalist Abdullah Bahsh by pushing to prevent him from  coverage.

Al-Hayat Al-Jadida photographer Issam Al-Rimawi stated that, a group of journalists and media crews went to cover the anti-settlement activities on Mount Sabih in the town of Beita ,the demonstrations began and the occupation forces began firing rubber bullets, sound and gas canisters at the demonstrators, the Reuters news agency international photographer, Raneen Rateb Sawafta, was wearing a full press uniform and was standing in a safe open area away from the demonstrators, when the soldiers went towards her and ordered her to stay away from the place, and despite her compliance with their orders, they immediately threw a stun grenade at her, it fell near her left foot, but quickly moved away from it before it exploded.

Journalist Raneen joined her other fellow journalists in the place, journalist Abdel Rahman Younis, Issam Al-Rimawi, Abdullah Bahsh, Quds Network reporter, Mahmoud Fawzy, Turkish director of Anadolu Agency). At that moment, the soldiers tried to make the journalists walk ahead of them, making them Human shields protect them from stones, as the protesting youths were hitting stones at the soldiers from all sides. At the same time, the solders started to hit the journalists' legs with sound bombs to obstruct their work, and prevent them from covering. Meanwhile, the journalist Abdullah Bahash was pushed hard by the army forces to fall to the ground, and due to the intensification of the stone hitting from the demonstrators, our colleague Raneen was hit by a stone in her right forearm, which led to the army's withdrawal back, fearing that they would also be hit by stones.

The photographer, Raneen, was seriously injured. The ambulance crews transferred her to the field hospital in the town of Beita, where she received treatment, and her hand was x-rayed. In the evening, Raneen went to the Turkish Hospital in Tubas as a result of the severe pain in her hand, and there she was treated again.

 

Feb, 11th: Journalist Muhammad Thabet was wounded by bullet, while covering the weekly demonstration in Beit Dajan - Nablus, while Palestine TV cameraman Louay Al-Samhan suffocated during the suppression of the march on Friday.

Muhammad Radwan Muhammad Thabet, ho works as a reporter and cameraman for several local radio and TV stations, told Mada Center that he was covering the weekly Beit Dajan march, which began around one in the afternoon after Friday prayers, when the soldiers suppressed the march and the journalists covering the event by firing metal bullets. Rubber-coated bombs, sound and gas at them.

  “Thabit” was covering the confrontations, wearing a press uniform he was standing with a group of journalists: (Palestine Post Agency correspondent Mujahid Tabanja, Palestine TV cameraman Louay Al Samhan, and J-Media photographer Ashraf Abu Shawish). Soldiers prevented journalists from staying in their location, and as they moved to another place, they were targeted with sound bombs, gas and metal bullets, which led to the severe suffocation of Palestine TV cameraman Al-Samhan, who received field treatment in the ambulance, and journalist Muhammad Thabet was wounded by a rubber-coated metal bullet in the elbow of his right hand, where he received field treatment at first, and then went to Al-Sadaqa Hospital in the village of Beit Surik to discover that he had a few hairs on his hand.

 

Feb, 13th: occupation police assaulted journalists while covering demonstrations organized in solidarity with the Salem family, after an Israeli decision was issued to evict their home in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem.

In his testimony to Mada Center, photographer of the Qastal News Network, Ahmed Muhammad Abu Sobeih stated that he has been present since Sunday morning  accompanying a group of journalists, including the freelance photographer Rami Al-Khatib in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, specifically in the home of the threatened Fatima Salem. With the evacuation, the extremist settler "Itamar bin Jubayr" pitched his tent in the family's house in preparation for the seizure of it.

At seven in the evening, while photographers Ahmed Abu Sobeih and Rami al-Khatib were covering the confrontations erupting in the neighborhood , between the Palestinian citizens on the one hand and the settlers,   the Israeli police forces who was present fired a stun grenade at the journalists which exploded, scattering its shrapnel.

Photographer Abu Sobeih was transferred to Al-Makassed Hospital in Jerusalem and received the necessary treatment.

 

Feb, 13th: The occupation forces arrested the director of the Media and Public Relations Department in the Prisoners’ Affairs Authority, journalist Thaer Muhammad Shreiteh, while he was passing through the Za’tara checkpoint, and sentenced him to one month in prison and a fine of 2,000 NIS, 9 days after his arrest.

His father "Mohammed Yousef Shreiteh" stated to Mada Center that on Sunday, Thaer finished a visit to one of the prisoners in the village of Kafr Qaddoum, with the   Prisoners' Affairs head, wher they arrested him.

He was transferred to Za'tara Checkpoint and held there until 12:00 a.m., and then transferred to an unknown destination. Two days later, his family learned that he had been transferred to Etzion Detention Center, where he remains.

The occupation authorities held three trial sessions for him, the first on 15/02 and the second on 21/02. As for the third session, it was held in Ofer Court on Tuesday, 22/02. The court sentenced Thaer to 31 days in prison and imposed a fine of 2,000 shekels on him for "inciting against the Israeli authorities."

 

Feb,13th: The Preventive Security services in Nablus city summoned the director of Asdaa News, journalist Amin Abu Warda and interrogated him about his work for three hours.

He reported, that he received a phone call from the headquarters of the Preventive Security in the city of Nablus to come to the headquarters, he went as scheduled, and after handing over his identity card and his mobile phone, he waited in a room next to the reception hall for an hour after which he was transferred to another room on the ground floor and stayed there for two hours.

 Abu Warda was entered into the investigation room, and the interrogation of the journalist began by the investigator about a group of several topics, about his arrest by the Israeli authorities in 1988, and about the political organization he belonged to at that period, so that the investigator moved to ask questions about other administrative detentions that the journalist was subjected to in the years 2012 and 2015 and to which organization he belonged at the time However, the journalist clarified that at that time he was not with the political detainees, as he was an "administrative detainee".

The investigator inquired about the nature of the work of “Asda’a” news, specifically about the commercial sponsorship of the Asdaa Tejwal program, which organizes hiking trips for media students, and whether one of the sponsors of the commercial program is affiliated with Hamas, he replied tat most of the companies in different parts of the country have provided financial sponsorship for the program, as they are commercial companies, and are interested in advertising for themselves.

The investigator interrogated him about the radio stations he works for, and through which he presents programs, and there were inquiries about the nature of the topics raised by the journalist.

Investigator also asked Abu Warda about his coverage on Facebook of an event by citizens in Nablus to protest the killing of activist Nizar Banat, and the reasons for covering the activity as a citizen or journalist.

The journalist remained in the investigation until four o'clock in the afternoon, after which he was released.

Feb,17th: The Israeli occupation forces prevented a group of journalists from entering the vicinity of the Salem family's home in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem.

The correspondent of the Kufia channel, Zina Mazen Al-Halawani, stated to Mada Center, that she was near the house of the Salem family to do a live broadcast of the eleven o’clock bulletin for the Kufia channel about the family’s threat to seize Their house, and when the reporter approached entering the vicinity of the house to do a live broadcast, she was prevented from entering on the pretext that she does not have an Israeli press card, while the cameraman accompanying her Ibrahim Al-Singlawi was allowed to enter, because he had an Israeli press card, so he entered and took the necessary pictures for the report while the reporter Zina finished her report from  outside.

Among the journalists who were prevented from entering the area around the house for the same reason: Palestine TV reporter Christine Rinawi, journalist Maram Bukhari, Al Qastal News Network correspondent, Liwa Abu Rumaila, and cameraman Muhammad Shalodi.

 

Feb,18th: The occupation army wounded AFP photographer Jaafar Shtayyeh with a rubber bullet in his right hand, while the army severely beat a group of journalists and cursed them with profanity while covering the weekly anti-settlement demonstration in Beita, south of Nablus on Friday.

Sida photographer Nasser Suleiman Shtayyeh, told Mada Center that he and a group of journalists (Quds News Network reporter Abdullah Taysir Bahsh, free videographer Mahmoud Fawzy, in addition to a foreign journalist whose identity was not known) were dressed in full press uniforms. To cover the weekly demonstration in the village of Beita, the journalists gathered in an area of Jabal Sabih.

A force of the occupation army attacked the demonstrators and journalists, and they began firing rubber bullets, sound and gas canisters, as a result, AFP photographer Jaafar Zahida Shtayyeh was injured with a rubber-coated metal bullet. He was transferred by ambulance to Rafidia Hospital in Nablus, where he received treatment.

Meanwhile, a group of soldiers assaulted journalists Mahmoud Fawzy, Abdullah Bahsh, Nasser Shtayyeh, and a foreign journalist for a period of minutes. At that moment, the army soldiers fired stun grenades.

Nasser Shtayyeh received a field treatment as a result of the beatings.

 

Feb, 19th: An Israeli police assaulted photographers, Ahmed Abu Sobeih and Rami Al-Khatib, when they coving the police attacks on a Jerusalemite youth on Al-Wad Street in Jerusalem. Free photojournalist Rami Al-Khatib stated that he and his colleague, Al-Qastal News Network cameraman, Ahmed Muhammad Abu Sobeih were beaten by the occupation police, while covering the police assault on a citizen on a “AL WAD” street in Jerusalem.

 

Feb, 21st: The management of "Meta" company suspended the account of journalist Zaid Ataya on Facebook for a period of one month, which can be extended. It also restricted the content of the journalist's reserve account for a temporary period that was not specified, after he resorted to using it directly.

Journalist Zaid Majed Suleiman Ataya, who works as a photographer and presenter for Raya FM Radio, stated to Mada Center, that he also works in electronic media at the New Al-Hayat newspaper, and shares everything related to his media work on his Facebook page, which includes 5,000 friends. In addition to 2000 followers.

Meta Company suspended the main account of journalist Zaid after he posted a video during the official working period that included a picture of Hitler, and its content was a criticism of the road conditions in the West Ramallah area, which citizens resented at the slow pace of repair work. Half an hour after the video was published, the journalist was provided with a message from the Facebook management stating that his account had been suspended for a month, and that the account might continue to be permanently disabled if the company verified violations of the publishing standards on the site.

The journalist resorted to using his reserve account of the same name, but in Arabic, after disabling the main account, and after he published exactly six publications, the reserve account was completely restricted and for a temporary period that was not specified, as journalist Zaid was prevented from publishing, and doing any other activities on the account.

 

Feb, 22nd:  The Preventive Security in the city of Nablus summoned freelance journalist Ayman Faisal Qawariq, for an interview at the agency's headquarters on. This summons comes the day after the Nablus Magistrate’s Court issued a decision to acquit the journalist of the charge of “defamation against the authority” based on the cybercrime law, in the case filed against the journalist since March 2020.

Journalist Ayman Faisal Qawariq reported to Mada Center that he received a phone summons from a member of the Preventive Security Service in Nablus for at the agency’s headquarters, but he did not go.

 

Feb,25th: An occupation army soldier assaulted a group of journalists who were present in the city of Hebron to cover the citizens' commemoration of the 28th anniversary of the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre, Wafa Agency corrospondent Hamza Muhammad Al-Hattab reported to Mada Center that a group of journalists were present near the Ali al-Bakka Mosque in the city of Hebron. Israeli soldiers were near the military checkpoint in the area, and they fired live bullets and sound bombs to disperse the demonstrators.

The journalists began covering the events and attacks on citizens while they were wearing full press uniforms. During that, a soldier approached them they assaulted journalist Hamza Al-Hattab by beating him and preventing him from covering. Then, the same soldier attacked both journalists Louay Saeed, who works for the “Space” company Media” and on the Palestine TV crew, the reporter Mahmoud Frash and the cameraman, Iyad Hashlamoun.

A group of protesters managed to intervene and keep the soldier away from the journalists.

 

Feb,27th: Unknown pages (believed to be affiliated with Palestinian sides ) impersonated the Quds News Network, forged false news and published it in the name of the network, while the network published a notice confirming that this news was fabricated and baseless.

The editor of the Quds News Network, journalist Youssef Sami Abu Watfa (29 years), stated that the Quds Network has been subjected to incitement against it for some time by pages that appear to be affiliated with Palestinian political parties, in an attempt to undermine the professionalism and credibility of the network.

Abu Watfa added that during mid-February, a group of forged designs and publications were published that were distributed and attributed to the Quds Network, and their falsehood was exposed through the type of font used in them, which the network designers never use. Among these designs and publications were statements attributed to the Sheikh. "Khader Adnan" after the shooting incident that he was exposed to in the city of Nablus, and another makes a statement by Hamas leader "Khaled Mashaal" about the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, both of which are not related to the network. The personalities mentioned in the publications were not interviewed or made any statements to the network.

Quds Network issued more than one warning on its various platforms that the network was exposed to suspicious news on its tongue, and warned against its transmission.

Feb, 27th: The Israeli occupation forces attacked journalists by kicking, and injured photographer Ashraf Abu Shawish with a stun grenade in the leg, while covering the activity preventing settlers from arriving at Al-Lubban Al-Sharqiya School.

J-Media photographer Ashraf Mahmoud Abu Shaweesh stated to Mada Center that a group of journalists were at the entrance to the "Al-Lubban Al-Sharqiya" school, which is located on the main street between the cities of Nablus and Ramallah to cover the prevention of settlers and the Israeli occupation army from accessing students to the school.

The occupation forces targeted photographers and journalists with sound bombs during their media coverage of the event.

Abu Shaweesh was injuredwhich  led to torn ligaments and severe pain, and he  was unable to walk for two days, and he is still suffering from pain as a result of the injury, which directly targeted his knee with the intent of causing him a physical disability to prevent him from moving and filming for several months, according to what the photographer explained.

Quds News Network correspondent Abdullah Taysir Bahash (24 years old) reported to Mada Center that the soldiers of the occupation army obstructed his work, and assaulted him by pushing and beating him to prevent him from covering. Saqf Al-Hait and Jaafar Shtayyeh  were prevented  from covering.

 

Feb,28th: Occupation soldiers assaulted freelance journalist Nidal al-Natsheh and tried to break his camera, while covering a festive event in the vicinity of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron in commemoration of the Isra and Mi’raj .

Freelance journalist Nedal Asmar Al-Natsheh, stated to Mada Center  that he was present inside the Ibrahimi Mosque to cover the celebration of the commemoration of Isra and Mi’raj, and filmed the celebration from inside and outside the Ibrahimi Mosque.

A large group of children were outside, and when the soldiers saw them, they deliberately suppressed and pushed them and tried to expel them from the vicinity of the mousqe, and while the journalist Nidal covered the oppression of children, one of the soldiers saw him and attacked him directly, and grabbed him by the shoulder and hit him against the wall three times, and attempt to break his camera, then he accused him of putting the camera in his face, so it was only that a group of soldiers attacked him and started screaming at him, and pushing him hard .

 

Feb, 28th: Occupation police obstructed the work of a group of journalists and prevented them from covering the police assault on a girl in Damascus gate area in occupied Jerusalem, during the citizens’ commemoration of the Israa and Mi’raj.

 journalist with the Al-Quds Square News Network, Bara'a Nidal Abu Ramoz (24 years), reported to Mada Center that she and a group of journalists - she estimated their number at seven - were in the Bab al-Amoud area of ​​Jerusalem at 2:00 pm, covering citizens' celebrations in memory of the Isra and Mi'raj.

During the filming of the celebrations, a girl standing on the side of the road was beaten by the police for no reason. When the journalists tried to cover the assault on the girl, the police attacked them and tried to beat them to prevent them from covering.