this post was submitted on 07 Nov 2023

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German journalists detained by Israeli soldiers: 'Asked if we were Jewish at gunpoint' (www.haaretz.com)

submitted 1 year ago by cwagner@beehaw.org to c/news@beehaw.org

27 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Original article in German

While not clear from this article, the German one mentions

According to the team, the soldiers were probably settlers from the area who have now been called up as reservists. They were travelling in a private vehicle and were wearing civilian headgear.

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[–] plistig@feddit.de 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I get 403: Forbidden from OP's source, so here's a translation of the German article:

Incident in the West Bank: ARD (German public broadcasting) team detained by Israeli soldiers

Last update: November 05, 2023 8:50 pm

An ARD team was detained and threatened by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank on their way back from researching violence by radical settlers against Palestinians. The ARD studio in Tel Aviv sees this as a clear attack on the freedom of the press.

An ARD team has been detained and threatened by soldiers of the Israeli military (IDF) in the Palestinian West Bank. According to the ARD studio in Tel Aviv, which is operated by Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), correspondent Jan-Christoph Kitzler was already on his way back from an interview with a Palestinian employee and a German employee when they were stopped by Israeli soldiers south of the Palestinian city of Hebron.

As Kitzler reports and cell phone videos of the team prove, the soldiers behaved extremely aggressively towards the ARD team. Weapons were repeatedly held in the team vehicle. The soldiers repeatedly filmed the ARD team at close range - for Kitzler and the team a clear attempt at intimidation. Soldiers apparently conscripted reservists

According to the team, the soldiers were probably settlers from the area who had been called up as reservists. They were traveling in a private vehicle and were wearing civilian headgear.

"The soldiers threatened us with their weapons and asked us if we were Jewish. Our colleague was insulted as a traitor," reports Kitzler. The ARD team was there to report on violence by radical settlers against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. This has increased significantly since the start of the war and numerous cases have been documented. "We cannot accept this approach"

For Christian Limpert, head of the ARD studio in Tel Aviv, the case is an attempt to massively obstruct reporting from the Palestinian West Bank, and other international media are also affected. "This is the second incident for us within a week. Our team clearly identified itself as accredited press representatives and was far away from military security areas. We cannot accept the actions of the Israeli military."

The situation only eased after more than an hour, when additional Israeli soldiers and police were called in. The IDF's Foreign Desk, which is responsible for foreign correspondents, also mediated by telephone.

BR considers the event to be an attack on the freedom of the press. According to BR editor-in-chief Christian Nitsche, the multiple pointing of the gun is completely unacceptable. The Foreign Press Association (FPA) in Israel, among others, has also announced that it will take action in the matter. The ARD studio in Tel Aviv will commission a lawyer to examine a legal investigation into the incident.

[–] cwagner@beehaw.org 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Huh, weird. I have no issues accessing it, but apparently bypass bots like 1ft.io are also blocked. It’s a big Israeli newspaper.

[–] LinkOpensChest_wav@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I got a 403 too, but I was able to access it this way.

[–] cwagner@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That just gives me endless captchas :D

[–] LinkOpensChest_wav@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago

Oh, it's not just me? I thought maybe I was IP banned after using it too much on reddit.

Their site has become borderline unusable too, unfortunately. Oddly, it works fine for me when I connect through a VPN.

[–] sqgl@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

~~I think you mean 12ft. It was shut down by the ISP about a week ago.~~

Is this the same guy resurrecting 12ft? Who owned the domain?

[–] cwagner@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago

I think it’s someone else doing a similar thing. I recently heard about it and with the 12ft shutdown I thought I’d try it ;)

[–] MaggiWuerze@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

Here's OPs article, no 403 for me:

German journalists detained by Israeli soldiers: 'Held us at gunpoint and asked if we were Jewish' DPA, Ido David Cohen 3 - 4 minutes

Israeli soldiers in the West Bank threatened and detained a team of journalists from the German public broadcaster ARD, the network reported on Sunday evening.

ARD correspondent Jan-Christoph Kitzler was on his way back from an interview, accompanied by a Palestinian as well as a German network employee, when they were stopped by Israeli soldiers south of Hebron, according to ARD.

The soldiers behaved very aggressively towards the journalists and weapons were aimed into the team's vehicle on several occasions, ARD said.

Israeli army reservist killed in West Bank, settlers torch cars in revenge Israeli far-right lawmaker calls to halt West Bank olive harvest Amid the mourning, Israel's settlement enterprise celebrates a great victory

A German Foreign Office spokeswoman on Monday demanded that Israeli forces grant press representatives free access for their reporting.

"In such a tense situation as we currently find ourselves, freedom of the press is of course an extremely valuable asset," she said on Monday in response to the incident.

IDF soldiers deep inside the Gaza Strip, on Sunday. IDF soldiers deep inside the Gaza Strip, on Sunday.Credit: IDF Spokesperson

Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), the Bavarian regional ARD station that operates the network's Tel Aviv studio, described the incident as an attack on press freedom.

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According to the report, the team of ARD journalists were on their way to report on violence by radical Jewish settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank.

"The soldiers threatened us with their weapons and asked us if we were Jewish. Our colleague was insulted as a traitor," said Kitzler, the ARD correspondent. He said the situation only eased after more than an hour, once other soldiers and police had been summoned.

Kitzler posted a photo of one of the soldiers with the face blurred out on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, and wrote that "That's what might happen these days when one wants to report about the sharp increase in settler violence in the occupied West Bank in the shadow of the war in Gaza. Many of the soldiers there are themselves settlers. Journalists are likely not welcome."

"The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] apologizes for any inconvenience caused," the Israeli army told dpa on Monday in response to questions about the incident. "The IDF will continue to act in order to ensure the freedom of the press in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] even during the war."

The IDF also said that "the soldiers' actions were examined and protocols were reiterated," although the statement did not specify whether the IDF took issue with those actions or whether protocols were violated.

The Foreign Press Association in Israel in late October called on the Israeli military to ensure the safety of journalists and complained about two incidents in the West Bank in which soldiers had harassed reporters, including another incident in which ARD journalists were detained for two hours by soldiers while reporting on settler violence near Qawawis.

"This is the second incident in a week for us. Our team clearly identified itself as accredited press representatives and was far away from military security areas," said the head of the ARD's studio in Tel Aviv, Christian Limpert. "We cannot accept the actions of the Israeli military."