Israel\u2019s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that the operations of Qatar-based news network Al Jazeera will be closed in the country. <\/p>\n
Netanyahu said in a post on X: \u201cThe government headed by me unanimously decided: the incitement channel Al Jazeera will be closed in Israel.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ofir Gendelman, the prime minister\u2019s spokesperson to the Arab world, said Sunday that the decision would be \u201cimplemented immediately.\u201d <\/p>\n
In a post on X, Gendelman said that the network\u2019s \u201cbroadcast equipment will be confiscated, the channel\u2019s correspondents will be prevented from working, the channel will be removed from cable and satellite television companies, and Al Jazeera\u2019s websites will be blocked on the Internet. <\/p>\n
He quoted Netanyahu as saying: \u201cAl Jazeera reporters harmed Israel\u2019s security and incited IDF soldiers. It is time to expel the mouthpiece of Hamas from our country.\u201d <\/p>\n
Al Jazeera did not immediately respond to the closure on Sunday but have previously accused Netanyahu of resorting to \u201cinflammatory slanders\u201d that jeopardized not only the outlet\u2019s reputation but also the safety and rights of its employees worldwide. <\/p>\n
The move comes a month after Netanyahu vowed to shut down the television channel in the country following the passage of a sweeping law allowing the government to ban foreign networks perceived as posing a threat to national security. <\/p>\n
Netanyahu said on X in early April that he intended \u201cto act immediately in accordance with the new law\u201d to stop the outlet\u2019s activity in the country. Netanyahu\u2019s government has long complained about Al Jazeera\u2019s operations, alleging anti-Israeli bias. <\/p>\n
In response, Al Jazeera \u2013 which has been producing on the ground reporting of Israel\u2019s war against Hamas in Gaza \u2013 slammed the decision and vowed to continue its \u201cbold and professional coverage.\u201d <\/p>\n
The new law gave the prime minister and communications minister authority to order the temporary closure of foreign networks operating in Israel \u2013 powers that rights groups say could have far-reaching implications on international media coverage of the war in Gaza. <\/p>\n
Rights groups condemned the move at the time, with Human Rights Watch calling it \u201can alarming escalation,\u201d while the Committee to Protect Journalists said it was \u201cdeeply concerned\u201d by the new legislation. <\/p>\n
The move comes as negotiators met in Cairo on Saturday, in a bid to secure a ceasefire and hostage deal. <\/p>\n
Negotiators have made progress on the technical aspects of a potential deal, but two Israeli sources say it could take a week to finalize the deal itself. Qatar has played a key role in ceasefire negotiations in the on-going war. <\/p>\n
This is a developing story and will be updated.<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Israel\u2019s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that the operations of Qatar-based news network Al Jazeera…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3026,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}