UN-Truth

The Foreign Press Association in Israel (whose members are journalists working for the international press) has issued a new statement Wednesday demanding “the immediate freedom of eight RAM-FM staff members who have been placed under house arrest and forbidden to speak publicly. Three of the eight are accredited journalists with valid GPO [Israeli Government Press Office] cards, and their arrests raise particular concern about the issue of freedom of expression in Israel”.

(The FPA continues to mention eight detained staff, while court documents and the RAM-FM website indicate only seven staff are affected.)

AM-FM’s studios in the Malha Technology Tower in West Jerusalem, where Al-Jazeera and Reuters are also working, were raided on Monday, the staff present on the premises were detained, and equipment seized.

The station is broadcasting from Ramallah with a license from the Palestinian Authority, on the allocated frequency 93.6, using a powerful transmitter which can be heard in Ramallah and throughout a large part of Israel, from Haifa to Ashkelon.

However, as there have been interference problems in Jerusalem, RAM-FM began using a second frequency, 87.7 – apparently from Jerusalem. This was announced regularly on air for the past six months, and it is also displayed prominently on the station’s internet website.

The Israeli Ministry of Communications requested the police action against RAM-FM. Its spokesman has said that RAM-FM did not go through the required procedure to broadcast from Jerusalem.

The station has said, in response, that it believed it was operating “within the parameters of the law”.

On Tuesday, Ayelet Filo, a spokesperson for the Jerusalem District Court said that the journalists had finally all been released after each signed a commitment for a bond of 10,000 shekels (NIS). She added that the police are still investigating the case.

The Court’s “Protocol” for the case of the seven arrested staff members stipulates that they are to remain under house arrest until their next appearance in Court on 15 April. Until then, they are not to meet each other, or make any other contacts concerning the case – effectively, a gag order.

One of the defendants, news director Mark Klusener, was ordered to pay in cash a bond of 25,000 shekels by 3 p.m. on 9 April, or return to jail.

Those arrested were: Maysoun Odeh-Gangat (the Station Manager), Francis “Franco” Battiha, Arda Aghazarian, Ashira Ramadan — all Palestinians, apparently holding Jerusalem IDs — and internationals Mark Klusener (the News Director), Michael (Mike) Brand, and Tyson Harberger [sp?].

Israeli police spokesperson Mickey Rosenfeld said Tuesday afternoon that the arrested RAM-FM staff members had been “questioned throughout the evening”; he said he was not sure if the police were still investigating the case. Rosenfeld added, with what seemed like a tone of regret, that he knew all of those who had been arrested and held overnight.

Rosenfeld gave an interview to RAM-FM news on another matter that was broadcast by the station at noon on Monday.

Daniel Seaman, Director of the Government Press Office, which is part of the Prime Minister’s Office, said that he believed they were all bona fide journalists, but that the arrests came on the complaint of the Ministry of Communications. He suggested that the issue might be whether they were simply getting on the microphone and transmitting interviews or reports from their Jerusalem studios to the main office in Ramallah, or whether they were actually broadcasting from Jerusalem.

“If you publish or broadcast in Israel, you need a license. This is purely an issue of the law”, Seaman said, it is not about anything that they might have said on the air. He added that it could turn out to be an innocent mistake.

If so, many observers believe, the harshness of the police actions – apparently ordered by the Attorney-General’s Office in the Justice Ministry – and the severity of the Court’s decision are both very puzzling. Others say that the Israeli Ministry of Communications has determined that these strong measures are needed, though it is not at all clear why.

Simon McGregor Wood, the current FPA President and bureau chief for the American television network ABC, said Wednesday that he understood that the telephones of the staff placed under house arrest had also been confiscated. “This is an absurd escalation of an already badly-handled situation”, he said. He added that there appeared to be no reason to arrest staff who happened to be in the office on any given day, rather than take up any alleged licensing violations with the those responsible for such matters.

The FPA also said, in its second statement released Wednesday, that “Regardless of the merits of the charges brought by the Ministry of Communication against RAM-FM, the FPA strongly deplores the tactics used by authorities in this case, which have included raiding RAM-FM’s offices, seizing its equipment, arresting its staff for 24 hours, and then placing personnel under house arrest”.

The FPA said: “We call upon the government of Israel to recognize the peaceful spirit under which RAM-FM operates and its goal of fostering coexistence between the Israeli and Palestinian people”.

Filed under: Israel, Journalism and Journalists