The Government Press Office held a hearing for Al Jazeera’s Israeli-Arab reporter Elias Karram.
The GPO revoked Karram’s press credentials last week after an interview surfaced in which the Al Jazeera Jerusalem bureau chief said that journalists like himself sided with the Palestinians as part of their “resistance” to Israel. The hearing was essentially about whether to reinstate his accreditation.
Karam said in an interview to the Muslim Brotherhood television channel Dar Al-Iman in May 2016 that “as a Palestinian journalist who is in an occupied area or a conflict area, journalistic work is an integral part of the resistance and of political and educational action.
“A journalist fulfills his role in the resistance through his pen, voice or camera, because he is part of this nation and is resisting in his unique way,” he added.
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At Monday’s hearing, Karram told the GPO that “the resistance he spoke about was not a violent one, adding that he denounces the use of violence.”
If journalism as “non-violent resistance” is the best defense Elias Karram can offer for his comments to Dar Al-Iman, that’s an acknowledgment that his work at Al Jazeera is driven by the agenda of “resisting Israel” and not journalistic values. He conceded what I’ve suspected all along.
He’s not directly employed by terror groups or their direct media affiliates. (That would open a separate discussion on the blurred lines between terror propaganda and legitimate journalism). What Karram’s really saying is that he doesn’t have to bloody his own hands because he can do more from his position as Tinderbox City’s bureau chief cheering on the violence and spinning it according to the needs of the “resistance.”
I’m sure he sleeps well knowing it’s other people’s violence, not his own.
He didn’t personally light any matches.
Call Karram’s brand of journalism “resistance journalism.”
Al Jazeera has already been banned in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates amid their diplomatic crisis with Qatar, where the network is based and funded by the royal family. Jordan piled on too.
And more recently, Israeli Communications Minister Ayoub Kara is seeking to shut down Al Jazeera as well for its coverage of this summer’s Temple Mount tensions, which he said incited violence.
Karram, who lives in Nazareth, obtained his press credentials in 2011.
But resistance journalism doesn’t deserve press credentials.
Featured image: via Facebook/Elias Karram;
