Israeli police Sunday raided a hotel room used by Qatari-owned TV station Al Jazeera as its de facto office after Israel’s decision to shut down the network’s local operations, an Israeli official and an Al Jazeera source told the Reuters news agency.
Video posted on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, showed plainclothes officers taking down camera equipment at the east Jerusalem hotel room set up for broadcast operations, according to an Al Jazeera source.
In a statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his decision to close Al Jazeera’s offices in Jerusalem, effective immediately.
"After discussion by the Security Cabinet and pursuant to my directive, today the Government discussed closing Al Jazeera broadcasts in Israel.”
Netanyahu’s Cabinet announced it unanimously approved shuttering the network’s operations in Israel for as long as the war in Gaza continues and, on the grounds the Qatari television network threatens national security.
The Israeli communications minister, Shlomo Karhi, signed the orders.
"We will take immediate action against those who use freedom of the press to harm the security of Israel and IDF soldiers and incite to terrorism in time of war. There will be no freedom of expression for Hamas's mouthpieces in Israel. Al Jazeera will be closed immediately, and its equipment will be confiscated," he said in the statement.
The measure, the statement said, will include cutting off the channel from cable and satellite companies and blocking its websites. It did not refer to Al Jazeera's Gaza operations.
Al Jazeera called the move a "criminal act that violates human rights and the basic right to access of information." It said Israel’s accusations that the network threatened Israeli security was a "dangerous and ridiculous lie" that puts its journalists at risk.
The network affirmed its right to continue providing news and information to its global audiences, adding that it reserved the right to "pursue every legal step.”
The network has been critical of Israel's military operation in Gaza, from where it has reported around the clock throughout the war.
The U.N. Human Rights Office also criticized the shuttering of Al Jazeera’s offices in east Jerusalem.
"We regret cabinet decision to close Al Jazeera in Israel," it said on the social platform X. "A free & independent media is essential to ensuring transparency & accountability. Now, even more so given tight restrictions on reporting from Gaza. Freedom of expression is a key human right. We urge govt to overturn ban," it said.
The Committee to Protect Journalists also condemned the Israeli Cabinet’s decision. Such a move could set an “extremely alarming precedent for restricting international media outlets working in Israel,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna in New York.
“The Israeli cabinet must allow Al-Jazeera and all international media outlets to operate freely in Israel, especially during wartime,” he continued.
An Al Jazeera correspondent on its Arabic service said the order would shutter broadcaster's operations in Israel and in east Jerusalem, where it has been doing live shots for months since the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war in Gaza, but he continued, it would not affect Al Jazeera's operations in the Palestinian territories.
Israeli media said the Cabinet’s vote allows Israel to block the channel from operating in the country for 45 days.
The decision by the Israeli government also risks escalating tensions between Israel and Qatar, which owns the channel and while the Qatari government is taking part in mediation efforts for a cease-fire in Gaza.
Last month, the Qatari-owned network complained of "a series of systematic Israeli attacks to silence Al Jazeera," alleging that Israel deliberately targeted and killed several of its journalists, including Samer Abu Daqqa and Hamza AlDahdooh, both killed in Gaza during the conflict.
Israel has said it does not target journalists.
Qatar established Al Jazeera in 1996 and views it as a way to bolster its global profile.
Israel has long had a rocky relationship with Al Jazeera, accusing the station of bias against Israel.
While Al Jazeera's English operation often resembles the programming found on other major broadcast networks, its Arabic arm often publishes verbatim video statements from Hamas and other militant groups in the region.
The Arabic channel also carries live statements by Israeli officials and military spokespersons with simultaneous interpretation.
Al Jazeera similarly came under harsh U.S. criticism during America's occupation of Iraq after its 2003 invasion toppled director Saddam Hussein, AFP reports.
Source VOA
BDST: 1459 HRS, MAY 6, 2024
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