In a blow to press freedom, the Israeli government, headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, unanimously decided to shut down Al Jazeera’s broadcast in Israel, relying on a law passed last month that allows a foreign channel’s broadcasts in Israel to be shut down if its content is deemed to threaten the country’s security during the ongoing war.
“Al-Jazeera reporters harmed Israel’s security and incited against soldiers,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “It is time to expel the Hamas mouthpiece from our country.” Israel’s decision aggravates the country’s long-standing feud with Al Jazeera. It also threatens to increase tensions with Qatar, which funds the media network, at a time when Doha is playing a key role in mediation efforts to stop the war in Gaza.
On the same Sunday that the decision was announced, Al Jazeera broadcasts were interrupted in Israel. Attempts to tune into the channel displayed a message in Hebrew confirming the interruption of its broadcasts. In addition, journalists from several media outlets in Israel shared images on social media showing Israeli police confiscating material from Al Jazeera’s offices, including documents and recording equipment.
Al Jazeera is one of the few international media outlets that has remained in Gaza throughout the war, known for its extensive deployment of journalists in the Strip, has reported since October on the shelling of hospitals, attacks on residential buildings and the killing of unarmed civilians, events that experts say could constitute war crimes. Hind Khoudary, a Palestinian journalist based in the Gaza Strip who has reported for Al Jazeera English since October 7, says journalists “have zero protection.” They face multiple threats on a daily basis, including intimidation, obstruction, injury, detention and murder.
Al Jazeera Media Network has condemned the Israeli government’s decision to close its operations in Israel as a “criminal act” and warned that the country’s suppression of the free press “stands in contravention of international and humanitarian law”.