Israel Says It Will Return Camera It Seized From A.P.

Israel’s Communications Ministry confiscated camera equipment from The Associated Press on Tuesday afternoon, claiming the agency had violated a new broadcasting law by providing images of northern Gaza to Al Jazeera.

But hours later, Israel’s communications minister, Shlomo Karhi, reversed the decision and ordered the equipment be returned to The A.P. It was not clear when the equipment would be given back to the news agency.

The reversal came after the Biden administration expressed major concerns to the Israeli government and demanded the equipment be returned, according to an Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss diplomatic communications.

The seizure appeared to be an escalation in Israel’s efforts to punish Al Jazeera, the Pan-Arab broadcaster that the Israeli government voted to shut down two weeks ago. It raised questions about how far the Israeli authorities would go to cut off the Qatari-funded channel, which has provided extensive coverage of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.

Lauren Easton, The A.P.’s vice president of corporate communications, had denounced the Israeli government’s action, calling it “an abusive use” of a new law that provides the authorities with tools to crack down on foreign news organizations.

In a statement on Tuesday afternoon, the Communications Ministry said inspectors had gone to a location in southern Israel used by The A.P. to broadcast live footage of the border with northern Gaza, which is several miles away. The ministry claimed that the feed was illegally being carried by Al Jazeera and asserted that it was showing the activities of Israeli soldiers and threatening their lives.

In Mr. Karhi’s evening statement, he said the Defense Ministry had asked to review the issue of broadcasts from Sderot and that he was rescinding his earlier decision to seize the equipment until defense officials made a decision on the matter.

The A.P. reported that it adhered to Israel’s military censorship rules, including restrictions on broadcasting troop movements that could put soldiers at risk, and that the feed largely showed smoke rising over Gaza. It said officials had not flagged the positioning of its camera in southern Israel as problematic, but they had noted that its images appeared live on Al Jazeera.

It also reported that the Israeli authorities had conveyed a verbal order last week to shut down the live feed, but it did not comply.

As a prominent wire service, The A.P. makes its content available to subscribers around the world.

Yair Lapid, the leader of Israel’s parliamentary opposition, had blasted the Communications Ministry for confiscating The A.P.’s equipment, calling the move “insanity.”

“This is not Al Jazeera. This is an American media outlet that has won” dozens of Pulitzer Prizes, he said. “This government is acting as if it decided to ensure at all costs that Israel will be ostracized all around the world.”

In Israel, Al Jazeera’s Arabic-language coverage has frequently come under criticism for amplifying Hamas’s perspective.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and other Israeli officials have called the network a “mouthpiece” for Hamas, which led the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel from Gaza that set off the war. That day, Al Jazeera repeatedly reported statements from Hamas officials calling for a violent uprising in the occupied West Bank.

Al Jazeera has said that Israel’s decision to shutter its operations in the country violated “the basic right to access of information.” It has asserted that it hadn’t violated professional news standards.

The Foreign Press Association, which represents Israeli and Palestinian journalists working for international news organizations, had called the seizure of The A.P.’s equipment an “outrageous” decision that prevents the agency from “providing crucial images of northern Gaza to all other media outlets around the world.”

“Israel’s move today is a slippery slope,” it said in a statement on Tuesday. “Israel could block other international news agencies from providing live footage of Gaza. It also could allow Israel to block media coverage of virtually any news event on vague security grounds.”

Under the new law, if the prime minister deems a foreign news outlet was “concretely” undermining Israel’s national security, the government can temporarily close its offices, confiscate its equipment, remove it from Israeli cable and satellite television providers, and block access to any of the channel’s online platforms hosted on servers in Israel or owned by Israeli entities.

Johnatan Reiss and Gaya Gupta contributed reporting.