Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Monday ordered the closure of the Voice of Palestine radio station’s broadcaster center in Jerusalem.
The official radio station of the Palestinian Authority is operated by the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation and is headquartered in Ramallah, which is the P.A. administrative capital and not subject to the closure order.
Ben-Gvir’s order does apply to the offices in the northeastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina.
“Under my legal authority, I order the prevention of the [station’s] activity anywhere within the borders of the State of Israel,” Ben-Gvir wrote in a letter. “I instruct the owner of the business and any person in a managerial position who operates as part of said activity not to allow this activity in all areas of the State of Israel.
“I will not accept and we will not allow incitement and support for terrorism and terrorists, neither by the Palestinian Authority nor by any other body. The State of Israel is sovereign and anyone who tries to fight us will find himself outside,” he continued.
The Voice of Palestine radio station was established when the P.A. was formed in 1994. Before that, the PLO operated a radio service of the same name in various Arab capitals.
The Israeli government started jamming Voice of Palestine broadcasts in 1997. During the Second Intifada in the early 2000s, Israel bombed the station’s radio and television transmitter in Ramallah and blew up the building housing its offices and studios.
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