Palestine journalists condemns US decision to block dozens of news websites

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) yesterday condemned the US Justice Department’s seizure of 33 media websites, describing it as “piracy” against Palestinian and Arab media outlets.

The body said in a statement that the seizure “contradicts freedom of opinion and expression, as well as international laws and charters on the one hand, and complements the [Israeli] occupation’s violations against social media sites that transmit the Palestinian and Arab narrative on the other.”

The decision, it added, is “a new episode in a series of escalating measures against Palestinian, Arab and regional content that supports Palestinian rights and just Arab and regional issues”, adding that it will added this matter on to the agenda of the General Union of Arab Journalists during their meeting next week in Cairo.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Justice Department announced the seizure of 33 Iranian government-affiliated media websites, as well as three linked to the Iraqi group Kata’eb Hezbollah, which it said were hosted on US-owned domains in violation of sanctions.

“Components of the government of Iran … disguised as news organizations or media outlets targeted the United States with disinformation campaigns and malign influence operations,” the Justice Department said in a statement

The US government also took over the domain names of the news website Palestine Today, which reflects the viewpoints of Gaza-based Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements, redirecting the sites to the same notice.

The blocked news websites also include the Al-Alam, Press TV, the Al-Masirah TV website and the Al-Kawthar and Nabaa websites.

READ: Facebook blocks ex-Mauritania official for welcoming Hamas leader