Israel shuts down Al Jazeera operations, begins attacking news agency offices – JURIST

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sunday that his cabinet had voted unanimously to suspend Al Jazeera's operations in Israel. Soon after, authorities began searching the news agency's offices.

Israel has long had tense relations with Al Jazeera, accusing it of anti-Israeli bias and collaboration with Hamas. The decision was made possible by a law granting the government the power to shut down foreign media operating in Israel if they are considered a threat to national security.

Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi announced on X (formerly Twitter) that he had issued orders against Al Jazeera that would take effect immediately. Karhi described Al Jazeera's operations as well-orchestrated incitement efforts that jeopardize the nation's security. He pledged to do everything in his power over the coming months to ensure that Al Jazeera can no longer operate within Israel's borders.

In another post, Karhi shared video footage showing Ministry of Communications inspectors, backed by Israeli police forces, carrying out a raid on Al Jazeera's offices in Jerusalem. The video showed them confiscating various equipment belonging to the channel, such as editing systems, cameras, microphones, servers, laptops, wireless transmission equipment and some cell phones.

Al Jazeera has published a pre-recorded final report from its correspondent Imran Khan in Israel. Khan recorded his last report from occupied East Jerusalem, before the Netanyahu government's unanimous decision to end Al Jazeera's operations in Israel. In the report, Khan explains that, according to the recently passed law, the ban on Al Jazeera includes blocking its website and prohibiting the use of any device to distribute its content. Additionally, Internet service providers risk being fined if they host Al Jazeera's website. The provisions of the law also impose a total ban on broadcasting the Al Jazeera channel itself, prohibiting any transmission of its content by providers. Additionally, the channel is prohibited from having offices or conducting operations on Israeli territory. Khan said this large-scale ban leaves uncertainty over how long these restrictions will remain in effect.

Jonathan Dagher, who heads the Middle East desk of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), condemned Israel's actions and said:

Israel is using every possible method to try to silence Al Jazeera over its coverage of the reality of the plight of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza since October 7. The Israeli parliament's vote to censor Al Jazeera and Benjamin Netanyahu's defamatory comments against its journalists are unacceptable. RSF demands that Israeli authorities end their aggressive harassment of Al Jazeera. Such censorship legislation, under the guise of democratic regulation, implicitly targeting a specific media outlet, sets a dangerous precedent for journalism in Israel.

Last month, after the Israeli parliament approved a law granting top ministers the power to shut down foreign news networks, Netanyahu said he would take immediate steps to end Al Jazeera's operations in Israel. Calling the channel terrorism, he also accused the network of undermining Israel's security and actively participating in the October 7 attacks. The new legislation, adopted on April 1, 2024, authorizes the prime minister and the communications minister to temporarily close foreign media operating in Israel and confiscate their equipment if it is found that they are “actually undermining the security of the State”. Closure orders issued under this law are valid for an initial period of 45 days, with the option to renew for additional 45-day extensions. However, the law itself is a temporary measure that will expire on July 31, 2024, or earlier if the government lifts the declared state of emergency that prompted its adoption.

The closure of Al Jazeera is not the first attack on press freedom in Israel in recent years. RSF says more than 100 journalists have been killed in Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and that pressure on journalists in Israel has intensified since the country invaded Gaza following the October 7 Hamas attacks. Last December, Al Jazeera announced plans to file a war crimes complaint against Israel with the International Criminal Court (ICC) following the death of its photojournalist Samer Abu Daqqa in Gaza, killed by an alleged IDF drone strike .

Israel's actions threaten to increase tensions with Qatar, which partly funds Al Jazeera's operations, at a time when Qatar plays a key mediating role in efforts to end the war in Gaza .

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