Israel fails to supply proof for allegations towards Al Asima Information, Quds Plus, Alquds Albawsala, Maraj and Maydan Alquds
Printed On 23 Feb 2026
Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz has signed a army order designating 5 Palestinian native on-line media platforms as “terrorist” organisations, alleging hyperlinks to Hamas, in keeping with native Israeli media.
The order introduced by Katz on Monday targets Al Asima Information, Quds Plus, Alquds Albawsala, Maraj and Maydan Alquds. It mentioned the retailers are used to incite unrest, notably in Jerusalem.
Beneficial Tales
listing of 1 merchandisefinish of listing
The choice comes as media displays and rights teams proceed to spotlight Israel’s crackdown on freedom of speech, together with within the occupied Palestinian territories.
Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Ramallah within the occupied West Financial institution, mentioned the order targets important sources of data for Palestinians, serving as their “eyes and ears, particularly in Jerusalem”.
“The occupied West Financial institution is split by over a thousand gates and checkpoints, whereas entry into occupied East Jerusalem for many Palestinians is mainly inconceivable – actually not with out an Israeli allow,” she mentioned.
“These media retailers present Palestinians with minute-to-minute updates of what’s taking place in Jerusalem, of Israeli violations, of the environment.”
Odeh famous that the Israeli Ministry of Defence has not supplied “any proof” relating to the accusations towards the 5 media retailers.
“We’ve seen Israel lodge these sorts of accusations towards Palestinian journalists prior to now with out basis, even accusations that had been debunked. However nonetheless, journalists paid with their freedom or typically their lives due to them.”
Almost 300 journalists killed in Gaza
Since Israel’s genocidal battle on Gaza started in October 2023, the federal government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has continued to crack down on Palestinian journalists and retailers.
Israel has barred overseas journalists from independently getting into Gaza because the battle began, permitting solely a restricted variety of reporters embedded with its army to work in Gaza on a case-by-case foundation.
Because the battle broke out, almost 300 journalists and media workers have been killed by Israel in Gaza, in keeping with Shireen.ps, a monitoring web site named after Al Jazeera’s veteran correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed by Israeli forces within the occupied West Financial institution in 2022.
Final month, Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karahi ordered a 90-day extension of an current ban on Al Jazeera’s operations in Israel, blocking broadcasting and web corporations from carrying the community’s content material.
In May 2024, on the peak of Israel’s genocidal battle on Gaza, the Israeli cupboard voted to close Al Jazeera’s operations in Israel, weeks after the Israeli parliament handed a regulation permitting the short-term closure of overseas broadcasters thought-about to be a “risk to nationwide safety”.
