From Al Jazeera:
AL JAZEERA DEMANDS THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF ITS JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF
Doha, Qatar – July 17th 2006 – 4:00pm: Since Sunday July 16th, 2006 the Israeli authorities started obstructing Al Jazeera crews from covering the present confrontation in Lebanon in northern Israel. The Israeli authorities detained Al Jazeera’s correspondent, Ilyas Karram for a period of time just after the first wave of Hezbollah missiles hit Haifa. Furthermore, on two occassions yesterday and today the Israeli authorities detained Al Jazeera’s Bureau Chief in Jerusalem, Walid Al Omary. Mr. Al Omary has not been released yet without any explanations been given from the Israeli authorities, thus preventing Al Jazeera’s reporters from carrying out their work.
Seems like this is part of Israel’s campaign of targeting the media, whether a legitimate station like Al Jazeera or a propaganda tool like Al Manar. I wrote about this on my blog http://arab-media.blogspot.com/“ rel=”nofollow”>http://arab-media.blogspot.com/ a couple minutes ago. The article on Haaretz’s website has more details and says that Reshet Baey radio is leading the rampage against Al Jazeera.
Al-3omary has just been released now, announced al-Jazeera.
Monkey see, monkey do… I guess the Israelis are copying their American Patrons…
What does Al Jazeera need to be doing in Israel? They never write anything remotely fair in their English site. Today they have a heading sying that Israel is Using Internationally Banned Weapons but its just BS and the article is just BS. During times of war you can limit the freedom of a foreign press to act in your territory under attack. PLEASE dont preach about limiting their ability to gloat over Israeli casualties.
Take it for what it’s worth, but I was talking to a good friend and editor at the daily star in lebanon today and she was talking to a doctor in the south. The doctor was describing white phosphorus burns on his patients. They were having problems stopping it from burning so they could operate. It’s not just fighters, but innocent civilians too, including many many children. I’ve also seen reports of this prior to today.