Israel moves forward with shutting down Al Jazeera operations
Al Jazeera cited “criminal action” on May 5th when referring to a recent move by the Israeli government to shut down its operations in Israel, the Arab Weekly and agencies reported.
The same day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet formally decided to move forward with the closing of Al Jazeera’s Israeli operations, declaring the Qatari government-funded television network a national security threat.
Though the network rejected such accusations as a “dangerous and ridiculous lie” that puts its journalists at risk, adding that it reserved the right to “pursue every legal step.”
The law allows Netanyahu and his cabinet to shut the network’s offices in Israel for 45 days. Though that period can be renewed, and therefore could stay in force until the end of the country’s war on Gaza.
“Israel’s suppression of free press to cover up its crimes by killing and arresting journalists has not deterred us from performing our duty,” the statement read.
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On April 1st, Israeli parliament passed a bill that gave senior officials the authority to ban Al Jazeera from broadcasting within the country. Netanyahu had vowed to put it into “immediate action.”
Following May 5th’s unanimous cabinet vote, Netanyahu posted on social media to announce “the incitement channel Al Jazeera will be closed in Israel.”
The closure includes shutting down Al Jazeera’s offices in Israel, confiscating broadcast equipment, cutting off the channel from cable and satellite companies and blocking its websites. Though there was no mention of Al Jazeera’s operations in Gaza.
Al Jazeera has been vocal about its condemnation of Israeli offenses within the territory. Netanyahu consequently declared the network “the sofar of Hamas.”
Though, comparatively, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller credited the network for informing the public about the reality of the conflict in Gaza. “Much of what we know about what has happened in Gaza is because of reporters who are there doing their jobs,” he said, “including reporters from Al Jazeera.”
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“The background of this decision is not professional or journalistic,” said Waleed Omari, bureau chief of Al Jazeera in Israel and the Palestinian territories, “it’s political.”
Al Jazeera previously called Israeli efforts to curtail its operations “[come] as part of a series of systematic Israeli attacks to silence Al Jazeera.”
The network has repeatedly accused Israel of deliberately silencing — and, in some cases, killing — several of its journalists. Samer Abu Daqqa and Hamza Al Dahdouh were both killed in Gaza during the conflict. Israel denied that it targets journalists.
On March 18th, Al Jazeera journalist Ismail Alghoul was captured by Israeli forces alongside other journalists. He had been reporting on a raid of Al-Shifa hospital before being held captive for twelve hours.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said on December 21st that the Israel-Hamas war has been the deadliest for media workers with the most journalists killed in one year in a singular location.
CPJ President Jodie Ginsberg added that the war is “unprecedented in terms of the threat to journalists.”
The Arab Weekly and agencies
