Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that Al Jazeera will no longer be allowed to operate in Israel. Photo: Abir Sultan / Pool Photo via AP / NTB
Of NTB | 05.05.2024 13:06:58
Culture and entertainment: – The world community is completely dependent on the media to get credible information about the situation. Banning a news medium like Al Jazeera is a direct attack on press freedom, says Eide (Ap). Television 2.
The decision in the Israeli government was unanimous, says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a message on X/Twitter on Sunday.
Several of the channel’s journalists have been killed and wounded in Israeli attacks.
Israel has long accused Al Jazeera of being one-sided and biased, and already ten years ago the then foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman advocated banning the channel from operating in Israel.
The TV channel is headquartered in Qatar, the country that also houses Hamas’ leadership in exile, and which is a mediator in the negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
The TV channel is publicly funded, and the closure of Al Jazeera’s offices in Israel could also lead to a more tense relationship between Israel and Qatar.
Recently, the Israeli National Assembly passed a new law which allows for foreign national broadcasters to be closed temporarily if they are considered a threat to national security in connection with Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip.
Israel considers itself the Middle East’s only democracy with full freedom of expression, and in several countries there have been strong reactions to Israel’s plans to ban Al Jazeera’s activities.
Al Jazeera has played an important role in the press coverage of the war in the Gaza Strip as it is one of the few media that still has its own journalists and photographers inside the Palestinian area.
It is not clear when the ban will be implemented and whether it will be temporary or permanent. Minutes after Netanyahu’s announcement, Al Jazeera’s English-language channel broadcast live from Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem.