Al Jazeera (YouTube)
Israel is moving to ban the Arabic language Al Jazeera news network from operating in the country. On Monday night the Knesset passed legislation that bars it temporarily from operating in the country with an overwhelming majority vote of 71 to 10 out of its 120 members.
The law gives Israel’s prime minister and minister of communications the authority to take action against a foreign news service, with the government’s approval, if it is “doing actual harm to state security.”
Al Jazeera is owned and operated by the government of Qatar, an Arab nation that does not recognize the State of Israel. It is known for its ant-Israel reporting that has led some to brand its coverage of the country as nothing more than propaganda. Yet, both its Arabic and English news channels are carried by Israel’s cable television services.
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Israel’s Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi called Al Jazeera a Hamas tool saying of the new law, “There will be no freedom of speech for Hamas mouthpieces in Israel” and pledging “Al Jazeera will be closed in the coming days.”
“We have brought an efficient and quick tool for action against those who use the freedom of the press to harm Israel’s security and IDF soldiers and incite terrorism in times of war,” he added.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a concurring statement saying, “Al Jazeera harmed Israel’s security, actively participated in the October 7 massacre, and incited against IDF soldiers. It is time to remove the shofar of Hamas from our country.”
“The terrorist channel Al Jazeera will no longer broadcast from Israel. I intend to act immediately in accordance with the new law to stop the channel’s activity,” he added.
Al Jazeera, of course, is not happy about this and has rejected Israel’s criticisms. It leveled an accusation of its own saying in a statement that Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments were “lies that incite against the safety of our journalists around the world.”
“The network stresses that this latest measure comes as part of a series of systematic Israeli attacks to silence Al Jazeera,” it added.
The news agency went on to say it “holds the Israeli Prime Minister responsible for the safety of its staff and Network premises around the world, following his incitement and this false accusation in a disgraceful manner,”
“Al Jazeera reiterates that such slanderous accusations will not deter us from continuing our bold and professional coverage, and reserves the right to pursue every legal step.”
