Prime Minister Netanyahu this evening called on the Knesset to pass a bill that would allow retailers in Israel to be closed “immediately.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has revived calls for Israel to shut down Al Jazeera.
Israeli leaders on Monday called on their coalition government to pass a bill in parliament authorizing senior ministers to shut down foreign news networks deemed a security risk.
A statement from the Likud party said Prime Minister Netanyahu had been trying for years to block broadcasts from Qatar-based media and promised to “take immediate action to shut down Al Jazeera” following the adoption of the law.
The bill, which passed on first reading in February, would order the prime minister and communications minister to shut down foreign networks operating in Israel if they appear to be “prejudicial to national security.” It gives the authority to confiscate the equipment. .
Likud officials have been instructed to ensure that parliament passes the bill's second and third readings on Monday night.
Pressure is mounting again as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces massive protests over his handling of Israel's war with the Palestinian organization Hamas.
long campaign
The bill's return to Israel's parliament comes nearly five months after Israel announced it would block Lebanese news outlet al-Mayadeen.
With the start of the war in October, the Israeli government, with court consent, passed wartime regulations allowing it to temporarily shut down foreign media deemed to threaten national interests.
At the same time, Al Jazeera was also scheduled to be shut down. However, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said at the time that he hoped the measure would be used against Qatari-owned Al Jazeera.
Karhi, one of the few international media channels to broadcast live from Gaza during Israel's ongoing war in the besieged enclave, accused the station of pro-Hamas bias and incitement against Israel.
Israel has frequently criticized Al Jazeera, which has offices in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. In May 2022, Israeli forces shot and killed senior Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akre while she was covering an Israeli military raid in the West Bank town of Jenin.
A UN-commissioned report concluded that Israeli forces used “unprovoked deadly force” in the killing and violated her “right to life.”
During the war in Gaza, several of the channel's journalists and their families were killed by Israeli shelling.
On October 25, an airstrike killed Gaza bureau chief Wael Dadou's family, including his wife, son, daughter, grandson, and at least eight other relatives.
The Netanyahu government's move comes amid widespread criticism of the Israeli prime minister over security failures in the October 7 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.
According to Israel, nearly 1,140 people were killed and about 250 prisoners taken to Gaza.
At least 32,782 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's retaliatory war on Gaza, Palestinian officials say.
Tens of thousands of people gathered outside Israel's parliament in Jerusalem on Sunday in the largest anti-government demonstration since the start of the war.
Protesters on Sunday demanded that the government secure a ceasefire agreement to release prisoners held by Hamas and called for early elections.
