An A4 sheet of paper hangs on the door of a hotel room in East Jerusalem that has been converted into an Al Jazeera office. It is an official announcement in Hebrew from Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, who writes that Al Jazeera poses a threat to state security and will be closed down. Just before that, the Israeli police raided the hotel, where many journalists were staying. Al Jazeera’s equipment has been confiscated.
Al Jazeera had set up a makeshift office in the hotel room in recent months. Now the international news channel must stop all its activities in Israel. “The government under my leadership has unanimously decided: the incendiary channel Al Jazeera will be closed in Israel,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on Sunday on X.
Qatar-based Al Jazeera wrote in a response on Sunday that it “strongly condemns” the closure and called it a “crime that violates human rights and the basic right of access to information.” The closure of the local offices will mainly affect the channel’s reporting in Israel and East Jerusalem, not in Gaza and the West Bank, a correspondent for the Arabic-language channel reported.
‘Al Jazeera law’
In early April, a law was passed in Israel, quickly dubbed the “Al Jazeera Law,” which allows foreign news outlets to close their offices, seize their equipment and block websites if they pose a “threat” to ‘state security’. The law is temporary and stipulates that the offices of news channels can be closed for a period of 45 days. That period could be extended until the end of July, or until Israel ends the war in Gaza.
Al Jazeera is a leading international news channel with an Arabic and English edition and more than seventy offices worldwide. It receives funding from the Qatari government but says it operates independently. The channel has been reporting critically on the war in Gaza since October. Israeli politicians portray the channel as an extension of Hamas. Several Hamas leaders reside in Qatar, which plays a mediating role in negotiations between Hamas and Israel.
Minister Karhi was the initiator of the law. Immediately after the approval, he announced that he wanted to apply it to Al Jazeera as soon as possible. Karhi wrote on Sunday on X that the decision takes effect immediately.
Implications for negotiations
Last Thursday, the Israeli cabinet was supposed to vote on closing Al Jazeera, but that vote was postponed. According to Israeli media, this had to do with the indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas on a ceasefire and a new prisoner exchange, mediated by Qatar and Egypt. According to the Israeli news website Ynet, the request for a postponement came from the Mossad and Shin Bet, Israel’s foreign and domestic security services respectively. They feared the consequences for the negotiations.
Netanyahu accused Al Jazeera in April, after the law was passed, of threatening Israel’s security, participating in the October 7 attack and incitement against Israeli soldiers. In an official response, Al Jazeera called the allegations “false accusations” and “incitement” and wrote about “systematic attacks” on the channel. “The accusations will not deter us from our bold and professional reporting,” the news channel said.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an American non-profit organization that promotes press freedom, called the law a “significant threat to international media” that contributes to “self-censorship” and “hostility toward the press.” Israel’s Government Press Office, responsible for press accreditations, declined to comment on the legislation.
For years, Israeli politicians have suggested that Al Jazeera should be prevented from working in Israel. Prime Minister Netanyahu was at the forefront of this. In July 2017, amid violent clashes between the Israeli army and Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Netanyahu threatened to close the Jerusalem news station for inciting violence.
In May 2021, Israel bombed the Al Jalaa Tower in Gaza City, which housed Al Jazeera and The Associated Press. In 2022, Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot dead by an Israeli soldier in the occupied West Bank.
Press freedom in Israel
Although Al Jazeera has been under fire in Israel for years, other media are also subject to restrictions and censorship. Israeli media are also criticized by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi. In November last year, Karhi mentioned the Israeli newspaper Haaretz “a mouthpiece of Israel’s enemies” and threatened to cancel all government subscriptions and ban the newspaper from publishing government communications.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) recently published its annual ranking of press freedom worldwide. Israel fell from 97th to 101st place out of a total of 180 countries. Since the arrival of the ultra-right Israeli government at the end of 2022 and the war in Gaza, there has been an increase in disinformation campaigns and oppressive legislation in Israel, the organization writes.
In 2023, Israel passed an amendment to its anti-terrorism law, allowing prosecution of those who “consistently and systematically consume terrorist publications” or who publish “direct incitement to terrorist acts.” Foreign news organizations based in Israel are also subject to the military censor. In a memo from the censor, published by the news website The Interceptlists eight topics related to the war that cannot be reported on, such as information about the army’s activities in Gaza or photos that could identify troops.
Gaza reporting
Since the start of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, Israel has not allowed international press to enter, except for a limited number of journalists under the wing of the Israeli army. Palestinian journalists play a fundamental role in international news gathering. Al Jazeera is one of the few international media outlets that consistently reports from Gaza.
Several Al Jazeera journalists have been killed in Gaza by Israeli airstrikes in recent months, including Hamza Dahdouh, the son of Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh, and cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa, who bled to death because ambulances could not reach him in time.
The refusal to allow international press into Gaza is part of a growing “regime of censorship” in Israel, CPJ director Jodi Ginsberg noted in a recent op-ed in The New York Times. “Israel defends itself as a democracy and a bastion of press freedom in the region. His actions tell a completely different story.”
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