On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Al Jazeera, a news channel based in Qatar, would be shut down by his government.
According to Netanyahu, the choice was made following a meeting with his security cabinet.
The Prime Minister referred to Al-Jazeera as the violent Hamas group’s spokesperson in a post on X.
He said: “After discussion by the Security Cabinet and pursuant to my directive, today the Government discussed closing Al Jazeera broadcasts in Israel.
“Al Jazeera correspondents have harmed the security of Israel and incited against IDF soldiers. The time has come to eject Hamas’s mouthpiece from our country.”
Similarly, Israeli’s Communications Minister, Shlomo Karhi, said there will be no freedom of speech for Al-Jazeera.
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Karchi said: “There will be no freedom of speech for the Hamas trumpets in Israel.
“Al Jazeera will be closed immediately, and the equipment will be confiscated.”
Karhi has instructed the confiscation of devices utilized in the dissemination of the channel’s content, encompassing editing and routing gear, cameras, microphones, servers, laptops, as well as wireless transmission apparatus and select cell phones.
This directive follows the recent enactment of a new national security law by Israel’s parliament, granting senior ministers the authority to prohibit broadcasts from foreign channels perceived as national security risks and to close their operational bases.
Subsequent to the passage of this legislation, Netanyahu specifically targeted Al Jazeera, self-proclaimed as the “premier independent news channel in the Arab world.”
