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Photo:
Amir Abed-Rabbo and Mohammad Sharif. [Not necessarily in order displayed]. Published by IMEMC News

Police officers in Jerusalem. Credit: Olivier Fitoussi. Published by Haaretz
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by IMEMC News
Oct 14, 2024

On Sunday evening, Israeli soldiers abducted two Palestinian photojournalists in the occupied Palestinian capital, Jerusalem, in the occupied West Bank.

In a brief statement, the Jerusalem Governorate said that the soldiers abducted Amir Abed-Rabbo and Mohammad Sharif.

It added that the soldiers stopped the two photojournalists in Jerusalem’s Old City, abducted them, and took them to an interrogation facility.

In related news, dozens of soldiers and police officers invaded Silwan and Al-Isawiya towns in occupied Jerusalem, closed streets, and started searching cars while interrogating many Palestinians and inspecting their ID cards.

It is worth mentioning that an earlier report the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) and the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs revealed that Israeli soldiers have abducted at least 30 citizens from the West Bank over the past two days, including former prisoners.
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Israel Police Arrests Two Palestinian Journalists Filming at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Compound

The two East Jerusalem journalists were released from the local police station after the Union of Journalists in Israel filed an urgent appeal stating 'The arrest of journalists in the performance of their job is a serious infringement of press freedom'

by Nir Hasson for Haaretz
Oct 14, 2024 1:55 pm IDT

Israel Police arrested two Palestinian journalists from East Jerusalem on Sunday as they were trying to interview people at one of the entrances to the Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

Their attorney asserted that they had been detained for doing their work as journalists, and the police also didn't claim that the two were doing anything other than news-gathering.

The journalists were both released after more than 12 hours, following an urgent appeal by the Union of Journalists in Israel to the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court.

The two, who work for a Turkish television network, were filming Sunday morning near the Gate of the Chain in Jerusalem's Old City when police arrested them and brought them to the local police station. They were only questioned in the afternoon. Police told their attorney, Yasin Ghaith, that they were being held on suspicion of behavior liable to disturb the peace.

That evening, Amir Basha, a lawyer representing the journalists' union, filed an urgent appeal with the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court for their release. The petition asserted that the arrest violated police regulations, which state that the arrest of a journalist for anything connected with his or her work must be approved by the State Prosecutor.

"The arrest of journalists in the performance of their job constitutes a serious infringement of press freedom," the petition said. "This is a blatant, prohibited and disproportionate harm that may create a chilling effect on the work of journalists." Basha added that the incident not only harmed the two who were arrested, but journalists in general.

At 9:30 P.M., the court's president, Judge Shmuel Herbst, ordered the police to release the pair, and to respond to the journalists' association's petition within an hour. The police then told the court that when the officers involved learned the two suspects were journalists, they asked the head of the investigations division for approval to continue their questioning. When they failed to get approval, the two were released on the condition that they stayed away from the Temple Mount and East Jerusalem for the next seven days.

The Israel Police spokesperson said that "Following a report given to the police that two suspects were engaged in suspicious activity in the area of the Old City in Jerusalem, officers were sent to the scene. An investigation on the spot raised serious suspicions of violations, and therefore the two were brought to the station."

The spokesperson did not refer to the issue of police regulations on the arrest of journalists being violated.