Israeli forces storm Palestine Today TV offices

Israeli forces have stormed the West bank offices of Palestine Today television and arrested a manager, claiming the TV has been fueling violence across the occupied territories.

Israel’s Shin Bet internal spy agency said in a statement on Friday that the Ramallah offices were raided overnight in a joint operation with the military over allegations that the channel “broadcasts on behalf of the Islamic Jihad,” a Gaza-based Palestinian resistance movement.

“The channel served the Islamic Jihad as a central means to incite the West Bank population, calling for terror attacks against Israel and its citizens. Incitement was broadcast on the television station as well as the Internet,” Shin Bet added.

It added that Israeli forces arrested the station’s manager, Farooq Aliat, for his activities.

The Palestine Journalists Union said that Cameraman Mohammed Amr and technician Shabib Shabib were also taken into custody.

The offices were reportedly ordered shut and technical equipment were confiscated.

In response, Islamic Jihad slammed the “Israeli aggression against the nationalist media of the resistance,” and said the move was “another episode in the long saga of oppression by the occupation.”

This is not the first Palestinian media outlet to be attacked by Israeli forces since the outbreak of tensions last October.

On November 28, 2015, Israeli troops raided the offices of Radio Dream in the southern occupied West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron), confiscating its broadcasting equipment and shutting it down.

Earlier that month, Tel Aviv’s military stormed the al-Khalil Radio office overnight and closed it down for six months. They confiscated the station’s equipment and caused property damage.

In the same month, Israel shut down and imposed a ban on broadcasts by Palestinian Minbar al-Hurriyya radio station.

The occupied territories have been the scene of tensions escalated by Israel’s imposition in August 2015 of restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East al-Quds.

Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third holiest site in Islam after Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina.

Around 200 Palestinians, including children and women, have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces since the beginning of last October.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk