The German Government has called on Israel to respect press freedom, following an incident between Israeli soldiers and team of German journalists reporting in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
A spokeswoman for Germany’s Foreign Office said on Monday that “in such a tense situation as we currently find ourselves in, freedom of the press is, of course, a precious asset.”
She demanded that press representatives on the ground be granted free access for their reporting.
Journalists from German public broadcaster ARD said they were temporarily detained and threatened by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank while reporting on violent attacks against Palestinians by extremist Jewish settlers.
According to ARD, the soldiers behaved extremely aggressively towards the journalists and repeatedly pointed weapons into the reporting team’s vehicle.
When asked about the incident on Monday, the Israeli military apologised “for any inconvenience caused.”