ISREAL’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu said his cabinet has voted to ban the operation of Qatar-based news network, Al Jazeera in the country.
Netanyahu, on Sunday, May 5, announced in a post via X, stating that “The government headed by me unanimously decided: the incitement channel Al Jazeera will be closed in Israel.”
Also, the prime minister’s spokesperson to the Arab world, Ofir Gendelman, in another post, noted that the decision would be “implemented immediately”, adding that the network’s “broadcast equipment will be confiscated, the channel’s correspondents will be prevented from working, the channel will be removed from cable and satellite television companies, and Al Jazeera’s websites will be blocked on the Internet.”
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He further quoted Netanyahu saying “Al Jazeera reporters harmed Israel’s security and incited IDF-soldiers. It is time to expel the mouthpiece of Hamas from our country.”
The move by the Israeli government comes a month after Netanyahu vowed to shut down the television channel in the country.
The country’s parliament had also approved the law to allow the government to temporarily shut down the Al Jazeera news network in Israel, adding that the foreign networks are perceived as posing a threat to national security.
This ban means that the Al Jazeera offices in Israel would be closed, broadcasting equipment confiscated, the station would be removed from the cable and satellite television channels and also its website blocked.
The Israeli government had accused Al Jazeera of biased reporting on the ongoing war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
Responding to the ban by the Israeli government, the news network, Al Jazeera, in a post on X, issued a statement condemning the move by Israel to ban them from operating in Israel over their coverage of the Gaza war.
“We condemn and denounce this criminal act by Israel that violates the human right to access information,” the statement read in parts.
Al-Jazeera, founded in 1996 with its headquarter in Doha is one of the most widely viewed sources of television news in the Arab world.
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