Hebron – Israeli security forces raided a Palestinian radio station in the village of Dura, near Hebron, during the small hours of Tuesday night. According to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, soldiers and police officers arrested five of the station’s employees on suspicion of incitement to violence and confiscated technical equipment and radio transmitters.
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“The A-Sanabel radio station constantly broadcasted inciteful content against the State of Israel,” stated a spokesperson with the IDF. “It encouraged and supported harming Israeli citizens and praised Palestinian terrorists who committed attacks.”
The raid was conducted in cooperation between the Israeli army, police, and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) after a closure order was issued by the commander of the IDF’s Central Command.
According to Palestinian reports, the soldiers who raided the station confiscated all the electronic equipment, arrested the station’s manager who was not identified by name and issued a temporary closure order for three months.
The radio station in question operated from the Dura village in the Hebron outskirts. Just one day before the raid, IDF forces demolished the house of Mohammed Jabarah al-Faqih, a resident of Dura who gunned down a Jewish rabbi and father of ten during a so-called ‘lone-wolf’ terrorist attack in July.
According to both Israeli and Palestinian reports, Israeli security forces conducted several raids in recent months and shut down many Palestinian radio and television stations deemed inciteful as well as other media establishments.
An IDF spokesperson confirmed these reports to Tazpit Press Service (TPS) saying that “the closure orders were issued for incitement to terrorism. One of the stations was associated with the Islamic Jihad movement, an illegal terror organization.”
The latest raid was part of a preventative effort and a new strategy in combating the near-daily attacks and attempted attacks committed by ‘lone-wolf’ Palestinian attackers on Israeli security forces and civilians alike.
“Palestinian incitement by the political leadership, the media and the education system is a decisive factor in catalyzing the wave of Palestinian terrorism afflicting Israel in the recent months,” stated a spokesperson from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.