A couple of weeks ago, the Israeli forces conducted an airstrike on a high-rise building in Gaza which housed news service and other media outlets, such as the Associated Press.
Now AP representatives have finally met with Israel’s ambassador to discuss the incident. Ambassador Gilad Erdan spoke with AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt and Vice President of International News Ian Phillips at the news agency’s offices in New York, The Hill reports.
In the meeting, Erdan defended the strike. The Israel ambassador told the AP executives that the Palestinian militant group Hamas was developing a device to jam the country’s Iron Dome defense system from inside the building housing the AP’s offices.
“The unit was developing an electronic jamming system to be used against the Iron Dome defense system,” Erdan said. The Israel Ambassador added that he “doesn’t think that AP employees were aware it was being cynically used in this way by Hamas for a secret unit.”
After the meeting, the AP thanked Erdan and shared their thoughts on the provided explanation in a press release.
“Israeli authorities maintain that the building housing our bureau was destroyed because of a Hamas presence that posed an urgent threat. We have yet to receive evidence to support these claims,” the statement said. “AP continues to call for the full release of any evidence the Israelis have so that the facts are public.”
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
