Israel Bars Journalist Abby Martin From Gaza on Baseless 'Enemy State' Charges

GRAYZONE PROJECT

Martin accuses Israel of seeking to "hide the grim reality of their illegal occupation and expansion."

Sarah Lazare is a staff writer for AlterNet. A former staff writer for Common Dreams, she coedited the book About Face: Military Resisters Turn Against War. Follow her on Twitter at @sarahlazare.

The Israeli Government Press Office has denied the host of TeleSUR's popular "Empire Files" program Abby Martin credentials to enter Gaza, citing baseless charges that she is associated with the “enemy country” of Iran.

“We are currently examining information that TeleSUR is associated with the government of Iran, an enemy country under the Israeli law,” Ron Paz, the director of the Foreign Press Department, wrote to Martin in an email dated September 4. “The GPO [Government Press Office] rules prevent us from issuing accreditation to those working on behalf of enemy countries.”

Paz wrote that the application for press credentials filed by Martin and her TeleSUR colleague Michael Prysner is being subject to a probe, noting that he does not expect the investigation “will reach a final conclusion within days.”

In a statement emailed to AlterNet, Martin said, “All the American journalists we have talk to here said they received their press credentials within hours—so the claim by the Israeli press office that they cannot honor our request in a timely manner is an obvious diversion.”

“The Israeli government is using a bizarre and unprecedented claim that journalists working for TeleSUR are considered enemy agents on behalf of Iran, despite there being zero proof to this charge,” Martin continued. “This has major implications for all journalists working for any media that receives state funds.”

TeleSUR receives funding from multiple Latin American states, including the governments of Venezuela, Cuba and Bolivia.

Martin is host of the program “The Empire Files,” which describes its mission as “recording a world shaped by war and inequality.” Her reporting has consistently reported on Israel’s human rights abuses against Palestinians and raised questions about why major media outlets are failing to cover these abuses.

“So far on our travels in Palestine, we have witnessed a massive and desperate human rights catastrophe—so it is not surprising that the perpetrator of these crimes is attempting to limit how much we can see and report on,” said Martin. “I believe this is part of a larger effort by the Israeli state to hide the grim reality of their illegal occupation and expansion.”

Israel has repeatedly denied Gaza entry to human rights investigators and journalists, leaving United Nations officials seeking to research atrocities committed during Israel’s 2014 military assault on Gaza stranded in Amman after their application for an evidence-gathering mission was rejected. 

The Israeli government sparked outrage in 2015 when its foreign ministryreleased a 49-second, animated video, styled after the cartoon South Park, which mocks foreign correspondents reporting on Israeli human rights abuses in Gaza as being duped by “terrorists.” The video attracted controversy because it followed Israel’s 2014 war, which killed at least 15 media workers in Gaza, prompting both the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders to protest the targeting of journalists.

One of the most densely-populated places on earth, Gaza is home to roughly 1.8 million people, approximately 75 percent of them refugees. The 25 by six mile strip of land has been under a crippling Israeli military siege since 2008, with military and diplomatic support from the United States and logistical assistance from the military junta of Egypt. Numerous wars and the blockade have left Gaza’s economy on the brink of collapse, decimated civilian infrastructure and killed thousands of Palestinians.

http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/israel-bars-journalist-abby-martin-gaza-baseless-enemy-state-charges