Netanyahu government closes “Al Jazeera” in Israel

The Israeli government ordered this Sunday (May 5, 2024) that the Al Jazeera, the state agency of the Qatari monarchy, closed its local offices. On his profile on X (formerly Twitter), Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that the decision was unanimous in his cabinet.

Inspectors from the Ministry of Communications and officers from the Israel Police went to the news agency’s offices to confiscate the equipment. Minister Shlomo Karhi stated that the Al Jazeera It is “an incitement machine that harms the country’s security”.

Close Aljazeera 🇮🇱

Inspectors from the Ministry of Communications, backed by the Israel Police, are at this time raiding Al Jazeera’s offices in Jerusalem and confiscating the channel’s equipment. pic.twitter.com/BFWkOiniDH

— 🇮🇱שלמה Review – Shlomo Karhi (@shlomo_karhi) May 5, 2024

“For months I did everything and will continue to do everything so that they can no longer operate from Israel”, wrote Karhi. This is the first time that an Israeli government has closed a foreign media outlet, including confiscating broadcast equipment, preventing live broadcasts and recordings, in addition to blocking news websites.

The Qatari agency frequently portrays the war between Israel and Hamas since the conflict escalated in October 2023. It also shares reports from members of Hamas and other extremist groups in the region.

“Al Jazeera reporters undermined Israel’s security and incited soldiers”Netanyahu said in a statement. “It’s time to remove the Hamas spokesman from our country,” he stated. The vehicle denies the prime minister’s statements.

Zein Basravi, reporter for Al Jazeera in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, said that the Palestine-Israel conflict is “one of the main reasons for the existence of our vehicle”. He stated that “to have our journalists, our operations, threatened in this way… Definitely, the concern here in the occupied West Bank is that we will be next”.