Givara Budeiri was assaulted and detained while covering protests in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.

Israeli police arrested an Arab correspondent for Al Jazeera covering a protest in the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.

Givara Budeiri, the Jerusalem correspondent for the Doha-based media network, was assaulted during her arrest on Saturday and her team’s equipment was destroyed.

Buderi was reporting on a sit-in marking al-Naksa’s 54th birthday, which means “setback,” a term Palestinians use to describe the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Strip. of Gaza in 1967.

Sheikh Jarrah has also been the scene of protests for weeks in favor of Palestinian families threatened with forced eviction to make way for Jewish settlers.

Israeli forces attack and detain @AJArabic‘s Jivara alBudeiri and smash the channel camera as the team covered a protest marking Naksa’s 54th birthday in #CheikhJarrah pic.twitter.com/TokxMDGBvR

– Rania Zabaneh (@RZabaneh) June 5, 2021

Al Jazeera’s Hoda Abdel Hamid, reporting from occupied East Jerusalem, said Budeiri was arrested for no apparent reason and reported while wearing a jacket with “press” printed on it.

She said Budeiri, a veteran journalist, was arrested as she attempted to retrieve and show her Israeli-issued press card following a police request.

“She was being pushed, it continued as she tried to get her press card. And then, as the cameraman was trying to reach him, his camera was broken, ”Abdel Hamid said.

“We spoke to several witnesses and they all said that there was no reason for this kind of tension and that it was not clear why they had decided to go specifically. [after] Givara while there were other journalists doing exactly what she was doing, ”she said.

An Israeli police statement later said that a man and a woman were arrested on “suspicion of harassing the security forces”.

Images obtained by Al Jazeera showed the moment Budeiri was arrested.

# شاهد لحظة اعتقال قوات الاحتلال لمراسلة اة الجزيرة جيفارا البديري من حي الشيخ جراح بالقدس المحتلة pic.twitter.com/fBAttex5dS

– الة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) June 5, 2021

Translation: The moment when the Israeli occupation forces arrested Al Jazeera correspondent Givara Budeiri.

The Israeli police also dispersed dozens of demonstrators who had managed to reach the neighborhood, which was cordoned off.

Barbara Trionfi of the International Press Institute said she was shocked by the arrest and called for Budeiri’s immediate release.

“It is absolutely appalling,” she told Al Jazeera.

“We have witnessed numerous targeted attacks on journalists by Israeli forces in recent weeks and months and this is unfortunately not an isolated case,” Trionfi added.

“This type of behavior by the Israeli forces is absolutely unacceptable. “