‘The Mideast’s Only Democracy’ Goes to War on Press Freedom – New York Times

Mr. Kara maintained that Israels actions were compatible with democracy, given this alleged incitement. But neither he nor anyone else from the government offered any specific evidence of incitement on Al Jazeera. The internationally recognized Johannesburg Principles set a high threshold for incitement: Direct and immediate connection between the expression and the likelihood or occurrence of such violence must be shown. These principles were adopted by international law experts in 1995 and endorsed by Abid Hussain, who was at the time the United Nations special rapporteur for freedom of opinion and expression.

Mhamed Krichen, a senior news anchor at Al Jazeera and a board member of the Committee to Protect Journalists, rejected the charge. Israel always accused us of incitement, Mr. Krichen told me. I remember Shimon Peres, Israels former president and prime minister, did it in a live interview on my show a few years ago, but only now its politically convenient for Israel to act on it. (Paradoxically, by shutting down Al Jazeera, the Israeli government would be silencing one of the few Arab media outlets that regularly invite Israeli officials on air.)

By politically convenient, Mr. Krichen was alluding to Israels increasingly close relations with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as well as to Mr. Netanyahus loss in the standoff over the Aqsa Mosque. Al Jazeera, Mr. Krichen said, showed live coverage of the protests and posted images of an Israeli officer kicking a man while he was praying.

The steps against Al Jazeera come amid an escalating Israeli crackdown on journalists more broadly. Israeli authorities recently raided the West Bank offices of the pro-Hamas channel Al Quds TV, the pro-Hezbollah channel Al Manar and the Russian government-funded broadcaster RT under suspicion of incitement. At the time of the Committee to Protect Journalists most recent annual census of imprisoned journalists, in December, Israel was holding seven in jail, four of them on incitement accusations.

Israel bills itself as a democracy while in the same breath defending its decision on Al Jazeera by noting the example set by Saudi Arabias absolute monarchy and Egypts military dictatorship. It is true that the government in Jerusalem will need to jump through more hoops than did the Arab states to shut Al Jazeera down. But if Mr. Netanyahus government succeeds, it will set a dangerous precedent within Israel.

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'The Mideast's Only Democracy' Goes to War on Press Freedom - New York Times