Israel Closes Al Jazeera’s Local Operation, seizes Equipment
The extraordinary order includes seizing broadcast equipment, preventing the broadcast of the channel’s reports and blocking its websites.
Israel has ordered the local offices of Qatar’s Al Jazeera satellite news network to close Sunday.
The extraordinary order includes seizing broadcast equipment, preventing the broadcast of the channel’s reports and blocking its websites.
This is believed to be the first time Israel has ever shuttered a foreign news outlet, ABC News reports.
Al Jazeera went off Israel’s main cable and satellite providers following the order but its website and multiple online streaming links still operated Sunday.
The network has reported the Israeli-Hamas war nonstop since Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7 and the war that followed in Gaza.
While including on-the-ground reporting of the war’s casualties, its Arabic arm often publishes verbatim video statements from Hamas and other militant groups in the region.
“Al Jazeera reporters harmed Israel’s security and incited against soldiers,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. “It’s time to remove the Hamas mouthpiece from our country.”
Al Jazeera issued a statement vowing it will “pursue all available legal channels through international legal institutions in its quest to protect both its rights and journalists, as well as the public’s right to information.”
“Israel’s ongoing suppression of the free press, seen as an effort to conceal its actions in the Gaza Strip, stands in contravention of international and humanitarian law,” the network said. “Israel’s direct targeting and killing of journalists, arrests, intimidation and threats will not deter Al Jazeera.”
Israeli media said the order allows Israel to block the channel from operating in the country for 45 days.
