The Israeli Government decided this Sunday unanimously to close the broadcast of the Qatari channel Al Jazeera in Israelafter Parliament approved last month a law that allows closure of foreign media that it considers “a threat to national security.”
“The Government that I lead has unanimously decided: the channel of incitement Al Jaazera to close in Israel,” The Israeli Prime Minister has written on his X account, Benjamin Netanyahuwithout giving more details about when the decision will take effect.
In his message, Netanyahu thanked the Israeli Minister of Communication, Shlomo Karhi, who has promoted the rule that allows the Government close the national broadcast of the Qatari network, one of the main sources of information about the war in Loop due to the large number of journalists it maintains in the enclave.
The so-called ‘Al Jazeera Law’ thus grants Israel’s Minister of Communications 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 its officesthe confiscation of their equipment and the blocking of their website server.
As detailed in the bill, the order to close a foreign news channel must submit to judicial review in a district court, which must decide within 72 hours whether to modify or shorten the period of the order.
Difficulty of accessing information
Get first-hand information about what is happening in the Gaza Strip is difficult, because Israel prevents the entry of the international press to the devastated Palestinian enclave, where more than 33,000 people have already died.
Al Jazeera is, in fact, one of the channels with greater deployment and journalists on the fringe. Since October he has reported on bombings of hospitals, attacks on residential buildings and the deaths of unarmed Gazans, which experts say could be considered war crimes.
Furthermore, several of its journalists, such as Hamza Wael Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuria, have lost their lives in several of these attacks. Other star correspondents like Wael Dahdouh have seen most of his relatives die, including his first-born son and fellow reporter, Hamza.
For its part, the Foreign Press Association (FPA) of Israel, which represents journalists who cover the country and the Palestinian territories for foreign media, has described the approval of the law as a “blatant attempt to silence the media.” In addition, the organization warns that the rule establishes a dangerous precedent that could lead to the closure of more foreign media.
