MPs in Jerusalem voted in second and third readings for the law that would allow foreign TV channels to be shut down if they were deemed to pose a risk to state security, parliament announced on Monday. News site ynet reported that a closure could be ordered by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi.
This could result in the closure of a broadcaster’s offices in Israel, the confiscation of its broadcasting equipment, the removal of the broadcaster from cable and satellite television providers, and the blocking of its website. According to the Times of Israel, right-wing conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he would immediately work to close Al-Jazeera after the law was approved. However, similar efforts have failed in the past.
“Incitement against Israel”
Israel accuses the broadcaster of biased reporting. Al-Jazeera’s broadcasts and reports constituted “incitement against Israel,” Karhi said last year after the Hamas massacre in the Israeli border area. The reporting helps terrorist organizations like Hamas.
Al-Jazeera has reported extensively on the catastrophic situation in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the Gaza War, showing images of death and destruction rarely seen on Israeli TV channels. The channel also regularly shows videos from Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades, often of attacks on Israeli soldiers.
