Al Jazeera satellite channel employees are shown working in the Jerusalem bureau in 2017. Israel's parliament on Monday approved a law targeting foreign broadcasters that would allow the government to shut down the operations of foreign broadcasters deemed a security threat. File photo: Atef Safadi/EPA
April 1 (UPI) — Israel's parliament on Monday approved a new law allowing the government to temporarily shut down the operations of foreign broadcasters deemed a security threat, but backers say the bill is funded by Qatar. It claims to target Al Jazeera news channel.
Israeli lawmakers approved the bill by an overwhelming 71-10 vote, and the country's prime minister, in consultation with other government officials, would suspend broadcasting of foreign channels and close offices in the following cases: and authorized to delete websites. Seize equipment if it is based in Israel or causes “substantial harm to national security.”
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The bill stipulates that such measures must be initiated by the country's communications minister and can be enforced for 45 days, with the option to extend for a further 45 days. The measure will remain in effect until July 31 or until the end of Israel's war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, whichever comes first.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that he would immediately implement the law, accusing Al Jazeera of “aiding Hamas terrorists” during the deadly October 7 attack on Israel.
“Al-Jazeera, the terrorism channel, will no longer broadcast from Israel,” he declared. “I will act immediately in accordance with the new law and suspend the channel's activities.”
The bill's passage was led by Israel's Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, a hardline member of Prime Minister Netanyahu's Likud party who previously served as one of the few media outlets to broadcast live from Gaza during Israel's attack on Hamas. He had promised to shut down Al Jazeera. .
“Al Jazeera will be shut down within the next few days,” Karhi said in a statement. “We have achieved effective and rapid recourse against those who use freedom of the press to incite wartime terrorism to the detriment of Israeli security and IDF soldiers.”
But the United States balked at the law on Monday, with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre calling the move “concerning.”
“We believe in freedom of the press. It's very important, very important,” she told reporters. “And the United States supports the vital work that journalists around the world are doing, including those covering the Gaza conflict.”
The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists also expressed regret over Israel's new law.
“CPJ is deeply concerned about the new bill that would allow the Netanyahu government to shut down Israel's Al Jazeera,” said Carlos Martínez de la Serna, the group's program director. “This law gives the government the power to shut down foreign media operating in Israel, posing a serious threat to international media in the country.”
He said the measures “contribute to a climate of self-censorship and hostility towards the press, which has intensified since the start of the Israel-Gaza war.”