Israel announced on 20 October that it has approved emergency laws that would shut down broadcasters and media organizations that Tel Aviv says “jeopardize” state security.
The move could pave the way for the closure of the Al-Jazeera outlet’s offices in Israel. Tel Aviv has accused the Qatari-sponsored news agency of inciting terror and helping Hamas.
“The closure of the Al-Jazeera network in Israel comes after the presentation of evidence that it helps the enemy, broadcasts propaganda in the service of Hamas in Arabic and English to viewers all over the world, and even passes sensitive information to our enemies,” an official statement read.
“Israel is at war on multiple fronts, including in the realm of information and perception. We will not tolerate broadcasts that jeopardize the security of our nation. The regulations under consideration will grant us the authority to close channels, seize equipment, and revoke the credentials of journalists who, during wartime, are found to be compromising the security of our state,” Shlomo Karhi, Israel’s Communications Minister, said.
The approval vote took place on Thursday, 19 October. The initiative still needs to be approved by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the Statutory Security Cabinet, which would allow Al-Jazeera’s local bureau in Israel to be shut down.
Following the final approval of the regulations, the communication and defense ministries will be able to order television providers to stop broadcasting news from outlets perceived as harming security. The outlets could be subject to office closures, equipment seizures, and restricted access to their websites and servers.
Once approved by the security cabinet, the regulations will take effect immediately and will be in place until Israel’s state of emergency is officially declared to be at an end.
Decisions to shut down certain outlets will be valid for 30 days but can be extended for additional 30-day periods. Such decisions will be based on the legal opinions of the security establishment.
Karhi announced last Sunday that his ministry was seeking a closure of Al-Jazeera’s offices. The decision was reportedly “initiated” by Israel’s prime minister, according to the I24 news outlet.
“This is a station that incites, this is a station that films troops in assembly areas (outside Gaza) … that incites against the citizens of Israel – a propaganda mouthpiece. It is unconscionable that Hamas spokespeople’s message goes through this station. I hope we will finish with this today,” Karhi said on 15 October.
Al-Jazeera staunchly supports the Palestinian cause and resistance. It has been diligently covering the events taking place since 7 October, particularly the war crimes committed by Israel against civilians in the Gaza Strip.
The outlet has a long history of covering events in Palestine. Last year, Al-Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh was killed in cold blood by an Israeli sniper as she was covering a brutal Israeli raid in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. Nobody was held accountable for the crime.
Israel’s military is known for its deliberate targeting of journalists, 21 of whom have been killed since 7 October.
Israel’s move to shut the station down comes as it is going to great effort to whitewash its own crimes and blame its atrocities on others. Israel desperately tried to pin its airstrike on Gaza’s Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital this week on a failed rocket launch by the resistance, despite an official posting an admission of the attack on social media and deleting it not long after.
The strike killed hundreds of innocent Palestinians who were either sick, wounded, or sheltered from Israeli bombardment inside the hospital.
Western media is also complicit in the whitewashing of Israeli crimes.
Israel’s bombing of a centuries-old church on Thursday night was initially labeled as a “blast” rather than an “airstrike” by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
Following Hamas’ surprise attack on 7 October, western media outlets relentlessly focused on demonizing the Palestinian resistance by spreading false reports of “beheaded babies” and using words in headlines such as “torture” and “rape” without any evidence.
Last week, NBC released an “exclusive” report citing documents given to them by the Israeli army, which said that Hamas was planning to attack schools and youth centers during the initial launch of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.
“One obvious oversight was that the attack, on the posts guarding the largest open-air prison, occurred on a Saturday when schools were not in session. Even if schools weren’t on holiday, the attack started at dawn when schools and youth centers would typically be closed,” Jamal Kanj of Palestine Chronicle notes.
“The willingness of US media to partake in Israeli disinformation … is unprecedented in Western democracies,” Kanj says, adding that the “brainwashing by ‘free’ media is even more pernicious than government-controlled media with its semblance of objectivity as it normalizes Israeli genocide.”