Efe Jerusalem
Jerusalem
Updated Monday, April 1, 2024-19:57
The Knesset (Israeli Parliament) approved this Monday a law that temporarily prohibits the retransmission in Israel of
any foreign media that "harms the security of the State"
, and that seeks to limit from today information on the war in Gaza from the
Qatari channel Al Yazira
.
"The 'Al Jazeera Law', which prevents a foreign broadcaster from harming state security, has been approved in second and third readings with a
majority of 71 votes in favor and 10 against
," the Knesset reported this Monday via X.
"
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," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on the same social network.
"Al Jazeera harmed Israel's security, actively participated in the October 7 massacre," when the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked Israeli territory and killed some 1,200 people, "and incited against soldiers of the defense forces.
It's time to remove the shofar
(the horn with which, according to Jewish tradition, the community is warned) of Hamas from our country," added Netanyahu.
The legislation was approved in first reading in the Knesset plenary in February and is now approved in second and third reading after months of debate with the security cabinet.
This law grants the Minister of Communications the power to order "content providers", for a renewable period of 45 days, to end
their retransmission from the country
; in addition to the closure of its offices, the confiscation of its equipment and the blocking of its website server.
As detailed in the bill, the order to close a foreign news channel must be submitted for judicial review in a district court, which must decide within 72 hours whether to modify or shorten the period of the order.
Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi agreed with Netanyahu and assured that
"there will be no freedom of expression for Hamas spokespersons in Israel"
and that "Al Jazeera will close in the coming days."
Getting first-hand information about what is happening in the devastated Palestinian enclave is difficult, because Israel has prevented the entry of international press into Gaza since the start of the war almost six months ago; where some 32,800 people have already died.
Al Jazeera is
one of the most deployed channels and journalists
in the Strip, and since October it has reported on bombings of hospitals, attacks on residential buildings and the deaths of unarmed Gazans, which according to experts could be war crimes.
Several of its journalists have also been killed in Israeli attacks - such as Hamza Wael Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuria when a missile hit their vehicle in southern Gaza - while star correspondents
such as Wael Dahdouh have lost most of their relatives
, including their first-born son and journalist, Hamza.