Two Ramallah TV Stations Shuttered in Raid
Israeli officials shut down two Palestinian television stations in Ramallah early Wednesday morning, after the Israel Defense Forces said they were operating without a license on frequencies that could disrupt communications with planes taking off and landing at Ben-Gurion International Airport.
One of the stations, Al Watan, was particularly popular in the area.
IDF soldiers accompanied the Communications Ministry inspectors on the raid. But initial reports that the stations’ staff were detained later proved unfounded.
An employee at one broadcaster said his station was raided at about 2 A.M.
The IDF Spokesman’s Office confirmed the raid, saying it was carried out after repeated requests to have the stations stop their broadcasts went unheeded. The spokesman said the stations had seriously interfered with legal broadcasts in Israel and were “shut down in accordance with the law.”
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism so that we can be prepared for whatever news 2025 brings.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
