The German foreign ministry on Monday criticized Israel’s decision to bar Qatar-based news channel Al Jazeera and called for the protection of press freedom.
“A free and diverse press landscape is an important cornerstone of any liberal democracy,” the ministry wrote on X, formerly Twitter, adding that the move “sends the wrong signal.”
Israeli authorities raided a Jerusalem hotel room used by Al Jazeera as its office after the government decided to shut down the Qatari-owned TV station’s local operations on Sunday, an Israeli official and an Al Jazeera source told Reuters.
Video circulated online showed plainclothes officers dismantling camera equipment in a hotel room, which the Al Jazeera source said was in East Jerusalem.
