The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, along with UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, recently offered an unusual reproach to the Palestinian Authority—not for its violence or offenses against Israelis and Jews—but for halting Al Jazeera TV’s operations. “We are deeply concerned by Palestinian Authority’s suspension of Al Jazeera operations and reporters in the West Bank amid troubling trend of suppressing freedom of opinion and expression,” the UN Human Rights office stated on X. “We urge PA to reverse course and respect its international law obligations.”

In a previous post on X, Francesca Albanese remarked, “When Israel banned AJ months ago, I urged the concerned authorities to reverse that decision. I ask the same to the PA now. Journalism is not a crime.”

A statement from the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa argued that Al Jazeera had violated local laws and regulations in the PA-controlled areas. According to Wafa, the move was due to the channel’s continued airing of “incitement content” and reports laden with falsehoods that fueled internal strife and meddled with the PA’s internal matters.

The Fatah movement, led by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, also announced last week that it was halting Al Jazeera’s operations in areas under PA control in Judea and Samaria, accusing the network of “spreading conflicts and inciting.” This decision coincided with violent confrontations in Jenin between Palestinian security forces and Islamic Jihad-affiliated terrorists.

Al Jazeera had previously been banned by Israel after it was revealed that one of its journalists was actually a Hamas leader. In September, the Israeli military shut down the Al Jazeera office in Ramallah. According to the IDF, this action was carried out following consultation with the political leadership and the Attorney General, after determining that the channel’s broadcasts posed a threat to national security.

{Matzav.com Israel}