Govt to ‘close’ Al Jazeera TV in Israel: Netanyahu

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that his government has decided to shut down the Qatar-based news channel Al Jazeera, with which his administration has had a long-running feud.

The government “unanimously decided: the incitement channel Al Jazeera will be closed in Israel”, Netanyahu said on X, formerly Twitter.

“There will be no freedom of speech for the Hamas trumpets in Israel,” Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said in a separate joint statement with Netanyahu.

“Al Jazeera will be closed immediately and the equipment will be confiscated.”

Al Jazeera condemns Israel’s ‘criminal’ decision to close offices

Israeli police raided a Jerusalem hotel room used by Al Jazeera as its de facto office on Sunday following the government’s decision, an Israeli official and an Al Jazeera source told Reuters.

Video circulated online showed plainclothes officers dismantling camera equipment in a hotel room. The Al Jazeera source said the hotel was in East Jerusalem.

Karhi issued an order to seize devices “used to deliver the channel’s content”, including editing and routing equipment, cameras, microphones, servers and laptops, as well as wireless transmission equipment and some cell phones.

Walid Al-Omari, head of Al Jazeera’s offices in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, reacted to the decision by saying it followed “a campaign in search of easy victories by ministers on (Israel’s) extreme right”.

He said the broadcaster had been informed of the “closure of the offices of Al Jazeera Channel operating within the borders of Israel”, and the confiscation of its broadcasting devices.

The broadcasting to Al Jazeera’s websites would also be restricted, he said, adding that the curbs would not legally apply to the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Neither will it apply to the Gaza Strip, from where Al Jazeera still broadcasts live on Israel’s war with Hamas.

Al Jazeera says two Gaza journalists killed in Israeli strike

Al Jazeera called the move a “criminal action” and rejected the accusation the network threatened Israeli security as a “dangerous and ridiculous lie” that puts its journalists at risk.

It said that it reserved the right to “pursue every legal step”.

There was no official comment from the Qatari government, which deferred to Al Jazeera.

Qatar established Al Jazeera in 1996 and views the network as a way to bolster its global profile.

“Al Jazeera Media Network strongly condemns and denounces this criminal act that violates human rights and the basic right to access of information,” the network said in a statement. “Al Jazeera affirms its right to continue to provide news and information to its global audiences.”

Sunday’s decision comes after Israel’s parliament last month overwhelmingly passed a new national security law granting top ministers the power to ban broadcasts by foreign channels deemed a national security threat and to shut their offices.

Shortly after that law passed, Netanyahu singled out Al Jazeera, which bills itself as the “first independent news channel in the Arab world”.

Netanyahu’s government has had a long-running feud with Al Jazeera that predates Israel’s aggression in Gaza.

The channel broadcasts in Arabic and English.

The feud has ramped up amid Israeli criticism of the channel’s coverage of the Israeli aggression in Gaza since Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Funeral held for Al Jazeera journalist killed in Israel strike

Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,683 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

At least 97 journalists and media workers have been killed since the war began, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, marking “the deadliest period for journalists” since 1992 when the group began gathering data.

In January, Israel said an Al Jazeera staff journalist and a freelancer killed in an air strike in Gaza were “terror operatives”.

The following month, it accused another journalist with the channel who was wounded in a separate strike of being a “deputy company commander” with Hamas.

Al Jazeera has fiercely denied Israel’s allegations and accused it of systematically targeting its employees in the Gaza Strip.

UN regrets Israeli’s decision to close Al Jazeera TV

“We regret cabinet decision to close Al Jazeera in Israel,” the UN Human Rights Office said on X. “A free and independent media is essential to ensuring transparency and accountability. Now, even more so given tight restrictions on reporting from Gaza. Freedom of expression is a key human right. We urge govt to overturn ban.”

US says Al Jazeera journalist likely shot by Israel but not intentionally

Israel’s parliament last month ratified a law allowing the temporary closure in Israel of foreign broadcasters considered to be a threat to national security.

The law allows Netanyahu and his security cabinet to shut the network’s offices in Israel for 45 days, a period that can be renewed, so it could stay in force until the end of July or until the end of major military operations in Gaza.

Qatar, where several Hamas political leaders are based, is trying to mediate a ceasefire and hostage release deal that could halt Israeli aggression in Gaza.