Tel Aviv, Could 5 (RHC)– Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cupboard has voted unanimously to shut Al Jazeera’s operations in Israel, in keeping with a authorities assertion.
The cupboard vote on Sunday got here after Israel’s parliament handed a legislation permitting the non permanent closure in Israel of overseas broadcasters thought-about to be a menace to nationwide safety throughout the months-long conflict in Gaza.
Netanyahu introduced the choice on X, previously Twitter. “The federal government headed by me unanimously determined: the incitement channel Al Jazeera might be closed in Israel,” he posted in Hebrew.
In one other X put up, Israel’s Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi mentioned he had signed the orders towards Al Jazeera, which might be efficient instantly. Karhi additionally ordered the seizure of Al Jazeera’s broadcasting gear “used to ship the channel’s content material”, together with enhancing and routing gear, cameras, microphones, servers and laptops, in addition to wi-fi transmission gear and a few cellphones.
The choice escalates Israel’s long-running feud towards Al Jazeera. It additionally threatens to intensify tensions with Qatar, which funds the media community, at a time when Doha is enjoying a key function in mediation efforts to halt the conflict in Gaza.
Israel has lengthy had a rocky relationship with Al Jazeera, accusing it of bias towards it and collaborating with Hamas. The Qatar-based community has repeatedly rejected the accusations.
Al Jazeera is among the few worldwide media shops to stay in Gaza all through the conflict, broadcasting bloody scenes of air assaults and overcrowded hospitals, and accusing Israel of massacres.
Final month, Netanyahu had mentioned he would “act instantly to cease” Al Jazeera’s operations in Israel after its parliament authorised a legislation that grants senior ministers powers to close down overseas information networks deemed a safety danger. “Al Jazeera harmed Israel’s safety, actively participated within the October 7 bloodbath, and incited towards Israeli troopers,” Netanyahu had posted on X.
The community accused Netanyahu of “incitement”, holding the Israeli chief “accountable for the protection of its employees and community premises around the globe, following his incitement and this false accusation in a disgraceful method”.
Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi, reporting from Ramallah within the occupied West Financial institution, mentioned the Palestine-Israel battle is “one of many important causes that our community exists.”
“So to have our journalists, our operations, threatened on this method … Positively, the fear right here within the occupied West Financial institution is that we’ll be subsequent,” he mentioned.
