Palestine TV's offices in Jerusalem were closed in November along with a number of other Palestinian institutions in Jerusalem because the TV station broadcast content inciting against Israel and was funded directly by the PA illegally, according to the Public Security Ministry. A 1995 law passed by the Knesset bans the PA from carrying out such activities within the area of Israel. In 2019, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan signed over 10 closure orders against the PA in Jerusalem.
“A fierce battle is under way here for the future and identity of Jerusalem, and every step should be taken to thwart the PA’s attempts to incite residents of east Jerusalem against Israel,” said Erdan at the time.
The Palestine TV station broadcasts anti-Israel and anti-Zionist content, which security forces believe is intended to incite viewers against Israel. Some of the programs discuss the Temple Mount and al-Aqsa Mosque, in which interviewers and interviewees create the impression of a “war” for Jerusalem and al-Aqsa, and that they must be defended from the “Zionist occupation forces.” Israel is presented as committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing.
Security officials found that the TV station is funded and associated with the PA, which goes against the Oslo Accords. A statement by the Public Security Ministry described the station as a symbol of the PA’s grip in Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Media Forum condemned the closure of the TV station in November, calling it a violation of freedom of the press, connecting it to the recent injury of a Palestinian journalist in the West Bank, the storming of the Wafa news agency offices in Ramallah and the destruction of al-Aqsa TV offices in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Sawa news agency.
The forum reaffirmed that the closure “will not undermine the will and determination of Palestinian journalists, who continue day and night to expose the crimes of the Israeli occupation.”