![A picture shows a view of the Al Jazeera television network offices in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on May 5, 2024. [Photo by ZAIN JAAFAR/AFP via Getty Images]](https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/GettyImages-2151017933-1.jpg)
Ezzat al-Rishq, head of the media office of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), said that Thursday’s remarks by Israeli extremist minister Itamar Ben Gvir against Al Jazeera channel and its staff, including accusations directed at the network, clearly reflect the state of confusion and fear among the leaders of the fascist Israeli occupation. He attributed this fear to the exposure of the internal weakness of the occupying entity following recent precise Iranian strikes.
In a press statement sent to the Palestinian Information Centre, al-Rishq stated that Ben Gvir’s incitement to prosecute anyone who watches Al Jazeera, and his labelling of free journalism as a security threat, reveals the moral bankruptcy of the occupation. He said it also shows how frightened the occupation is of free expression, which exposes its crimes against the Palestinian people and the peoples of the region.
He added that the Israeli occupation’s policy towards the media—including the killing of 219 journalists over the past twenty months, banning international media from entering Gaza, and threatening and intimidating media outlets—is a fascist and terror-driven policy. He called for a clear stance of condemnation from all media organisations and journalists worldwide.
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