The Israeli Knesset passed a law Monday that grants senior government officials the authority to shut down foreign media organizations deemed threats to Israeli national security, paving the way for the country’s government to block state-funded Qatari outlet Al Jazeera from operating within its borders.
In a post on X, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Al Jazeera as a supporter of terrorists and ally of the Hamas members who committed the October 7 massacres.
“Al Jazeera harmed Israel’s security, actively participated in the October 7 massacre, and incited [violence] against IDF soldiers. It is time to remove the shofar of Hamas from our country,” Netanyahu wrote in a post originally in Hebrew. “The terrorist channel Al Jazeera will no longer broadcast from Israel. I intend to act immediately in accordance with the new law to stop the channel’s activity. I welcome the law promoted by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi with the support of coalition members led by coalition chairman Ofir Katz.”
Al Jazeera responded to the 10/7 Hamas attack on Israeli civilians by immediately casting doubt on reports of mass civilian slaughter and rape and, according to the Israeli government, has employed Hamas terrorists as reporters in Gaza.
The outlet recently claimed that the Israel Defense Forces intentionally targeted journalists in a January airstrike. The IDF said the two journalists killed in the strike were traveling alongside a terror operative who was flying a drone.
Al Jazeera has also broadcast false information about Israeli soldiers supposedly committing acts of sexual violence against patients in the al Shifa hospital during a raid against Hamas before silently retracting the stories.
Foundation for Defense of Democracies senior adviser Rich Goldberg told National Review that the move by Israel to shut down Al Jazeera’s operations in the country has been a long time coming.
“We used to think of Al Jazeera as incitement to terrorism. Now we’ve seen the evidence of Al Jazeera’s material support to terrorism, including its own employees exposed as Hamas operatives,” Goldberg told NR. “Shutting them down in Israel is a no-brainer. The only question I’d ask is why the U.S. doesn’t have sanctions on this terror-supporting outlet, too.”