The Israeli Government unanimously decided this Sunday to close the broadcast of the Qatari channel Al Jazeera in Israel, after Parliament approved a law last month that allows the closure of foreign media.
“The Government that I head decided unanimously: the Al Jazeera incitement channel will be closed in Israel,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on his X account, without giving more details about when the decision will take effect.
In his message, Netanyahu thanked the Israeli Minister of Communication, Shlomo Karhi, who promoted the rule that allows the Government to close the national broadcast of the Qatari network, one of the main sources of information about the war in Gaza due to the large amount of journalists that it maintains in the enclave.
The so-called ‘Al Jazeera Law’ grants the Minister of Communications of Israel the power to order content providers, for a renewable period of 45 days, to end their retransmission from the country, in addition to the closure of their offices, the confiscation of their equipment and blocking of their website server.
As detailed in the bill, the order to close a foreign news channel must be submitted for judicial review in a district court, which must decide within 72 hours whether to modify or shorten the period of the order.
Getting first-hand information about what is happening in the Gaza Strip is difficult, because Israel prevents the international press from entering the devastated Palestinian enclave, where more than 33,000 people have already died.
Al Jazeera is one of the most deployed channels and journalists in the Strip, and since October it has reported on bombings of hospitals, attacks on residential buildings and the deaths of unarmed Gazans, which, according to experts, could be considered war crimes. .
Furthermore, several of its journalists, such as Hamza Wael Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuria, have lost their lives in Israeli bombings. Other star correspondents like Wael Dahdouh have seen most of his relatives die, including his first-born son and fellow reporter, Hamza.
The ‘Al Jazeera Law’ was approved on April 2, and allows to temporarily block the retransmission in Israel of any foreign media that “harms the security of the State.”
The Foreign Press Association (FPA) of Israel, which represents journalists who cover the country and the Palestinian territories for foreign media, then described the decision as a “blatant attempt to silence the media,” and warned that it sets a precedent. dangerous that could lead to the closure of more foreign media.
