On Monday, December 1st, the Israeli president held a meeting with Liu Yunshan, the Communications Minister of the Chinese regime. At the beginning, the meeting was open to all media outlets in Israel, and an invitation was sent out prior to the event.
Two Israeli journalists, one from the Epoch Times newspaper and the other, a cameraman for New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV) were not allowed to attend the event, due to pressure and deception from the Chinese communist delegates.
The Epoch Times and NTDTV are known for their broad coverage of the Chinese regime’s persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. In his current position, Liu has been in charge of the nationwide anti-Falun Gong propaganda.
Liu has hosted the national conference on “Report of Exemplary Deeds in Fighting with ‘Falun Gong,’” given speeches at the opening ceremony of a large anti-Falun Gong exhibition, and convened an anti-Falun Gong Symposium in his role as Director of the CCP Civilization Management.
Tal Atzmon, the NTD photographer that was banned from the event, said in an interview that he entered the hall in which the meeting was to be held, prior to the start of the meeting. “Everything was fine”, he said. “After a while I was approached by a spokesperson from the president’s office who told me I should leave, since the event was open only to Chinese media. I heard from an Epoch Times reporter that the President’s spokesperson told him that I had personally offended the Chinese delegates, though I did not have any contact with them.”
