“Completely unacceptable”: ARD team in the hands of Israeli soldiers Will there be a second Bakhmut? Impressions of the battle for Avdiivka

After conducting research in the West Bank, a team from the German broadcasting association ARD was stopped and threatened by Israeli soldiers on their way back to Tel Aviv. The Tagesschau reports this.

According to ARD Tel Aviv studio, correspondent Jan-Christoph Kitzler was on his way back to Tel Aviv with a Palestinian worker and a German worker after an interview in the West Bank when they were attacked by Israeli Army (IDF) soldiers in the south . of the Palestinian city of Hebron were stopped.

According to Kitzler, the soldiers behaved “extremely aggressively” toward his team, which is also evident from the team’s cell phone videos. The soldiers allegedly kept weapons in the car and repeatedly filmed the ARD team at close range. Kitzler and the team saw this as a clear attempt at intimidation. They were also asked if they were Jewish. “Our colleague was insulted as a traitor,” Kitzler reports.

The incident lasted over an hour

The soldiers traveled in a private vehicle and wore civilian headgear. According to the team, they were likely settlers from the area who had been called up as reservists after the Hamas attack on Israel.

Only after more than an hour was the team able to move on, after additional Israeli soldiers and even police forces became involved. Telephone communications also took place with the IDF’s “Foreign Desk”, which is responsible for foreign correspondents.

The ARD team was on its way to report on violent acts by radical settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank, which is occupied by Israel. Violence has increased significantly since the start of the war.

“Completely unacceptable”

Christian Limpert, head of the ARD Tel Aviv studio, speaks about an attempt to obstruct reporting from the Palestinian West Bank – and not for the first time. They suffered two similar incidents within a week, and other international media also reported similar incidents. He emphasizes:

Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), to which the ARD studio in Tel Aviv belongs, sees the event as an attack on press freedom. BR editor-in-chief Christian Nitsche describes the repeated pointing of the weapon as “completely unacceptable”. ARD Tel Aviv studio will hire a lawyer to legally handle the incident. The Foreign Press Association (FPA) in Israel also wants to take action on this issue.