A photo of slain Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akre hangs on the wall as a reporter works inside the agency's offices in Ramallah on May 9, 2023. CPJ urgently urged the Israeli government not to close the Jerusalem-based Al Jazeera bureau. April 1, 2024. (Photo: AFP/Ahmad Gharabli)
WASHINGTON, DC, April 1, 2024 — The Committee to Protect Journalists urges the Israeli government not to shut down the Jerusalem-based Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera affiliate and to prevent the media from covering news events in Israel and Gaza during the war. We urgently request freedom of reporting. current conflict.
On Monday, Israel's parliament, the Knesset, passed a law allowing the government to stop broadcasting Al Jazeera in Israel. The law empowers the Minister of Communications, with the approval of the Prime Minister and the Security Cabinet, to order the suspension of broadcasting of foreign channels in Israel if the Prime Minister believes that the content directly threatens the security of the country. .
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced It said on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that it would take immediate action to stop Al Jazeera broadcasting from Israel. In a tweet, Prime Minister Netanyahu labeled Al Jazeera a “terrorist channel” that violated Israel's security, actively participated in the October 7 massacre, and incited against Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers. denounced.
These charges were previously rejected by Al Jazeera as “an attempt to justify the killing and targeting of journalists.”
“CPJ is deeply concerned about the new bill that would authorize the Netanyahu government to shut down Israel's Al Jazeera,” Carlos Martínez de la Serna, CPJ's program director, said in New York. “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. This trend has intensified since the start of the Israel-Gaza war.
Additionally, the law requires the Minister of Communications to order “content providers” to cease broadcasting, close their Israeli offices, confiscate their equipment, take their websites offline if their servers are physically located in Israel, or authorized to order blocking of access.
Later Monday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said it would be “alarming” if the reports were true and Israel was trying to shut down the domestic news network Al Jazeera.
On November 12, Israel's Security Cabinet approved an order to shut down the Lebanon-based broadcaster and Israel's Hezbollah-affiliated al-Mayadeen TV.
Since the start of the war on October 7, Al Jazeera journalists have been killed, injured, threatened and assaulted in Gaza, and their families have been killed after being threatened by IDF officers.
CPJ sent an email to the prime minister's office seeking comment, but there was no immediate response.
(Editor's note: The seventh paragraph of this report has been updated to clarify the timing of comments by the White House.)
