The IDF raided two Ramallah pirate television stations Wednesday morning and Communications Ministry officials confiscated their equipment.
One of the stations was operated by Watan TV, part of a communications empire, and the other was operated by the Palestinian al-Quds University's Quds Educational Television. No one was arrested, an IDF spokesman told Arutz Sheva.
He said that the raid followed numerous requests by the Communications Ministry that the stations cease broadcasting because of interference with Israeli broadcasting signals.
The spokesman said he had no information on whether the pirate stations interfered with intelligence communications or aircraft. He added that the confiscation of broadcast equipment, computers and documents was legal.
Foreign media reported that 20 soldiers were involved in the raid in the city that serves as the headquarters and capital of the Palestinian Authority, and which, ostensibly, is responsible for maintaining law and order in the city. The IDF conducts operations in Ramallah when the PA fails to arrest terrorists or uphold laws, such as those against pirate television stations.
The Bethlehem-based Ma'an news agency reported that one of the television station’s employees said the 2 a.m. raid was a surprise. "They seized me and my colleagues and created a huge mess in the offices. They became very angry when they saw Khader Adnan’s photo hanging on our office’s wall,” the worker added.
Adnan is the spokesman for the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization in Judea and Samaria and was arrested by the IDF last December. He won international sympathy by staging a hunger strike until last week, when Israel agreed not to extend his administration detention that expires in mid-April.