Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke in Berlin in 2023.
CNN
—
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to shut down the Al Jazeera news network after it went through one on Monday. search law allowing the government to ban foreign networks deemed a threat to national security.
Netanyahu said he planned to “immediately act on the new law” to stop the Qatar-based news outlet’s operations in the country, according to a post on social media platform X after the law was passed.
Al Jazeera Media Network, Israel’s hard-hitting, on-the-ground war against Hamas in Gaza. he frustrated the decision in a statement, the network vowed not to stop pursuing “bold and professional coverage.”
The new law gives the prime minister and the communications minister the authority to temporarily shut down foreign networks operating in Israel; Rights groups say the powers could have far-reaching consequences for international media. War in Gaza.
Monday’s approval by Parliament comes a month into Israel’s war against Hamas and comes as Netanyahu faces mounting public pressure. large public protests – For managing the operations in Gaza.
Netanyahu’s government has also long complained about Al Jazeera’s operations, accusing them of anti-Israeli bias.
In a statement on Monday X Monday, the prime minister accused the network of being a mouthpiece for Hamas and accused it of “actively participating in the October 7 massacre and inciting against IDF (Israeli Defense Force) soldiers.”
Al Jazeera, which is partly funded by the Qatari government, said there were “slanderous accusations” that put not only Al Jazeera’s reputation, but also the safety and rights of its employees “at risk” around the world.
Rights groups condemned the move to shut down Al Jazeera and the possible consequences of the law.
In a statement the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it was “deeply concerned” by the new law.
“The law gives the government the power to shut down all foreign media operating in Israel, which poses a great threat to international media inside the country,” said program director Carlos Martínez de la Serna, adding that “it will help the auto climate.” censorship and hostility towards the press.”
The blocking of Al Jazeera “represents an alarming escalation in Israel’s efforts to curtail press freedom and further limit the world’s citizens’ access to the daily reality of Israel and Palestine,” Human Rights Watch Israel and Palestine director Omar Shakir told CNN. .
The White House also called reports of a move to shut down Al Jazeera “disturbing.”
“The United States supports the important work that journalists around the world do. And that includes those reporting on the conflict in Gaza,” said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at a press conference on Monday.
The move also comes at a critical time for relations between the governments of Israel and Qatar. The Gulf States have played a key role in ceasefire negotiations in the ongoing war.
Fighting between Israel and Hamas began on October 7 when Hamas launched a deadly attack on Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages, according to Israel.
Israeli forces have begun months of bombing and ground operations in the Hamas-ruled Gaza enclave, where the death toll exceeds 32,000, according to the Health Ministry.
The new law imposes a number of restrictions on Israel’s Al Jazeera, giving the government the power to take action against the offices that run the network and confiscate equipment and journalists’ press cards. It may also limit its broadcasts and access to its website.
Al Jazeera has an office in Jerusalem, as well as in the West Bank and Gaza.
Since the start of the war, he has provided critical ground coverage of Israeli military operations and their humanitarian impact in the disputed enclave.
Last month, a United Nations spokesman condemned it about the arrest and the attack by Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Ismail Al-Ghoul while reporting from the Al Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City.
Several Al Jazeera journalists and their families have also been killed in Israeli airstrikes, according to net.
On October 25, an airstrike killed the family of Wael Dahdouh, the head of the Gaza office, including his wife, son, daughter, granddaughter and at least eight other relatives.
Al Jazeera broadcast Dahdouh in a harrowing moment when he entered the funeral home to see the bodies of his family. it offered a window to the world In the grief and loss suffered by many residents of Gaza as Israeli military operations were launched.
Israel’s passage of the law and move to ban the network comes amid growing concern press freedom groups about causalities between journalists operating there in war zones and what they describe the obstacle of journalistic work Israeli authorities.
As of April 1, 2024, preliminary investigations by the Committee to Protect Journalists showed that at least 95 journalists and media workers had been killed since the war began.
Palestinian journalists, including those working for the few international news agencies still operating inside Gaza, are vital witnesses to what is happening there. Since October 7, the Israeli army has taken a number of foreign journalists into Gaza on a few escorted trips. But both Israel and Egypt, which control Gaza’s borders, have so far refused to allow international journalists unhindered access.
