Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that his cabinet unanimously decided to terminate the activities of Al Jazeera in Israel. Right after the decision, authorities commenced raids on the news organization’s offices.
The relationship between Israel and Al Jazeera has long been strained, with Israel accusing the news agency of anti-Israel bias and alliance with Hamas. The recent escalation was empowered by a law granting the government the power to discontinue the operations of foreign news establishments in Israel that are perceived as endangerments to national security.
Shlomo Karhi, Israel’s Communications Minister, declared on X (formerly Twitter) that orders against Al Jazeera would take immediate effect. He characterized Al Jazeera’s operations as calculated incitement activities that jeopardize national security. Karhi pledged to maximize his authority in the coming months to ensure that Al Jazeera will be unable to function within the confines of Israel.
Additionally, Karhi shared video footage that revealed Communications Ministry inspectors, accompanied by Israeli police forces, raiding Al Jazeera’s Jerusalem offices. The footage demonstrated them confiscating various equipment belonging to the channel, including editing systems, cameras, microphones, servers, laptops, wireless transmission gear, and some mobile phones.
Al Jazeera released a pre-recorded final report from their correspondent Imran Khan in Israel. In the report, Khan revealed that according to the recently passed law, the ban on Al Jazeera includes blocking their website and prohibiting the use of any device to transmit their content. Furthermore, internet service providers risk penalties if they host Al Jazeera’s website. The law also imposes an outright ban on broadcasting the Al Jazeera channel itself and prohibits any transmission of their content by service providers. The channel is also barred from maintaining offices or conducting any operations within Israeli territory, leaving uncertainty over the duration of these restrictions.
Jonathan Dagher, the head of the Middle East desk at Reporters Without Borders (RSF), has condemned Israel’s actions and expressed his disdain:
“Israel is using every possible method to try to silence Al Jazeera for its coverage of the reality of the fate of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza since October 7th. The Israeli parliament’s vote to censor Al Jazeera, and Benjamin Netanyahu’s defamatory remarks about its journalists are unacceptable. RSF demands that the Israeli authorities end their aggressive harassment of Al Jazeera. Such censorship legislation, under the guise of democratic regulation, implicitly targeting a specific media outlet, creates a precedent fraught with dangers for journalism in Israel.”
These actions by Israel are an escalation of the increasing pressure on press freedom. RSF reports that over 100 journalists have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), and pressure on journalists within Israel has risen since the country’s invasion of Gaza after the attacks by Hamas on October 7th. In December, Al Jazeera announced plans to file a war crimes complaint against Israel with the International Criminal Court (ICC) following the death of their photojournalist Samer Abu Daqqa in Gaza, who was killed by an alleged IDF drone strike.
Israel’s actions against Al Jazeera risks heightening tensions with Qatar, which partially funds Al Jazeera, particularly during a time when Qatar is playing a key mediating role in efforts to halt the ongoing war in Gaza.