Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to utilise a new national security bill enacted by parliament to prevent Al Jazeera from airing in the country.
The measure, passed by 70 votes to 10, gives senior ministers the authority to prohibit broadcasts from foreign channels deemed a national security danger and to close their headquarters.
Netanyahu promptly targeted Qatar-based channel Al Jazeera, which was notorious for criticising the Israeli government even before Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.
“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 activities,” Netanyahu said on X, formerly Twitter.
The station condemned the restriction as “part of a series of systematic Israeli attacks to silence Al Jazeera,” citing the murder of one of the network’s most prominent journalists in the region while covering an Israeli raid in May 2022.
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Al Jazeera issued a statement claiming that Netanyahu had begun a “frantic” and “disgraceful” campaign of accusations against the network, vowing to maintain its “bold” coverage of the war.
Two Al Jazeera correspondents have been murdered in the conflict, and the broadcaster’s office in the besieged Palestinian area has been bombarded.
According to the group, at least 95 journalists and media workers have been killed since the war began on October 7, following an unprecedented offensive by Hamas, marking “the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992”.
A Gentle Reminder: Every obstacle is a stepping stone, every morning; a chance to go again, and those little steps take you closer to your dream.
Nnamdi Okoli