Netanyahu passes law to close down Al-Jazeera in Israel

Citing state security, Israel is poised to crack down on al-Jazeera, the media outlet that has provided the most challenging coverage of its military’s controversial and lethal war in Gaza.

To Israeli leaders al-Jazeera, the most viewed station in the Arab world, is itself a lethal tool for the propaganda of Hamas, the organisation committed to its destruction which started the war with cross border massacres on October 7, the deadliest day in Israeli history.

But with the IDF barring foreign media access to Gaza, the Qatari media giant also is a major obstacle to IDF control of information coming out of the heavily battered coastal enclave wracked by burgeoning famine and a humanitarian crisis that much of the world blames on Israel.

Al Jazeera covers Gaza with 22 local employees, by its own count, enabling it quick and wide reach even though critics raise questions about its journalistic standards, professionalism and accuracy.

Although Israel does not have the power to stop al-Jazeera’s reporting from Gaza, on Monday, by passing a law in the Knesset, it began the process of closing down its operations in Israel, a step cast as a blow against the station and Hamas in the name of Israeli security.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took credit for the law as an essential security step that he would work to apply immediately. In an announcement, he termed al-Jazeera a “mouthpiece for Hamas” and alleged that it had “harmed Israeli security, actively participated in the October 7 [Hamas] massacre and incited against Israeli soldiers”. He provided no proof or examples.

An al-Jazeera source told The Jewish Independent in response that Netanyahu is turning the station’s employees into targets: “Of course he is putting us in danger when he is inciting against us and accusing us of false things.”