Netanyahu announces "closure" of Al Jazeera in Israel

On Sunday, Al Jazeera stopped broadcasting in Arabic and English in Israel after the government decided to shut it down, a move the Qatari network called a "criminal act."

Netanyahu said in a post on the X platform, "The government that I head has unanimously decided to shut down the incitement channel Al Jazeera in Israel."

According to the text of the decision, it is valid for a period of 45 days, renewable once.

The closure decision took effect hours after the government announcement. On Sunday afternoon, the screen went black with a message in Hebrew stating that "broadcasting in Israel has been stopped," according to an Agence France-Presse monitor.

The closure decision does not apply to Al Jazeera's offices in the West Bank and Gaza.

In a statement posted in Arabic on its account on the "X" website, the network said, "We condemn and denounce this Israeli criminal act that violates human rights of access to information."

In early April, the Israeli parliament (Knesset) discussed a bill that would allow the prime minister to ban foreign media outlets that harm Israel's security, a text that targets Al Jazeera.

This law was presented as part of texts voted on under an emergency procedure in the midst of the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

On Sunday, Netanyahu issued a statement accusing "Al Jazeera reporters of harming Israel's security and inciting against Israeli army soldiers.

Netanyahu previously called the network "terrorist.

As for Communications Minister Shlomo Karei, he said in a joint statement with Netanyahu, "There will be no freedom of expression for the mouthpieces of Hamas in Israel," stressing "the immediate closure of Al Jazeera" and "the confiscation of its equipment."

The minister said, "We faced many unnecessary legal obstacles until we were finally able to stop Al Jazeera's incitement machine, which is harmful to the country's security."

Agence France-Presse observed the closure of Al Jazeera's Jerusalem office and also viewed video clips circulated on social media sites showing Israeli authorities removing the satellite channel's equipment from a hotel room it was using in occupied East Jerusalem.

According to the text of the Communications Minister's decision, the decision includes the confiscation of the channel's broadcasting equipment, which includes editing and directing equipment, cameras, microphones, internet servers and laptops, in addition to wireless broadcasting equipment and some cell phones.

Relations between Israel and the Qatari channel have been marked by escalating tensions since the start of the war in Gaza on October 7.

The Gaza war erupted when Hamas launched an unprecedented assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,170 people, most of them civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse count based on official Israeli data.

More than 250 people were abducted, 129 of whom are still being held in Gaza, and 35 of them died, according to Israeli officials.

Israel responded by vowing to "eliminate" Hamas as it carried out a devastating bombing campaign and ground operations in Gaza that left 34,683 dead, most of them civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.

Walid Al-Omari, director of Al Jazeera's bureau in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, argued that the decision was "the culmination of a campaign of incitement...aimed at erasing the truth."

According to Al-Omari, the decision includes Israel, Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan.

He added, "Al Jazeera is one of the leading media outlets in conveying the truth about what this disastrous war is causing to civilians and citizens, especially in the Gaza Strip."

Al-Omari pointed out that the decision, which is about 150 pages long, is based on the "Emergency Law in Israel".

The Islamic Hamas movement condemned the Israeli government's decision, calling it a "flagrant violation of press freedom" and a cover-up of the truth in the war on Gaza.

At least 97 journalists and media workers have been killed since the start of the war on Gaza, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The Israeli army has repeatedly labeled Al Jazeera journalists as "terrorist agents" linked to Hamas and the Islamic Jihad movement in Gaza.

Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief, Wael Al-Dahdouh, was injured in an Israeli raid in December that killed a cameraman for the network.

Al-Dahdouh's wife, two of his children and his grandson were killed in an October bombing of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

His eldest son, a journalist working for Al Jazeera, was killed in a car attack in Rafah in January.

Al Jazeera was launched from the Qatari capital, Doha, in 1996 by decree of the former emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.

The channel immediately emerged as a rival to the global media giants, especially with its open coverage as "the first independent news channel in the Arab world," as it describes itself.

The Qatari channel is very popular in the occupied Palestinian territories.