 "Israel takes Al Jazeera off air: Who owns the media network? Why did Israel order its shutdown?")
As the Israel-Hamas war continues to rage — it’s been over 200 days of fighting — the Benjamin Netanyahu government in the Jewish nation on Sunday (5 May) voted to shut down the offices of the media channel Al Jazeera operating in the country with immediate effect.
Writing on X, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government had decided “unanimously” to close Al Jazeera in Israel. On Sunday, Israeli authorities raided the offices of Al Jazeera in Jerusalem with videos showing plainclothes officers dismantling camera equipment.
The move has undoubtedly angered the media institution, with the network calling it “suppression of the free press”.
Netanyahu’s banning of Al Jazeera
On Sunday, Israel raided the Al Jazeera office at the Ambassador hotel in Jerusalem with the country’s Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi saying equipment had been taken in the raid. A video posted by the minister on X showed police officers and inspectors from the ministry entering a hotel room.
Shortly after the raid, it was announced that media operations of the network would cease to function immediately in Israel after the Netanyahu Cabinet voted on it. The move was made possible after Israel’s parliament had ratified a law last month that allows for the temporary closure of foreign broadcasters considered a threat to national security.
“We finally are able to stop Al Jazeera’s well-oiled incitement machine that harms the security of the country,” Karhi said. His office said it would bar Al Jazeera from operating in Israel for at least 45 days, a measure that can be renewed.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsAs per a CNN report, Israeli cable providers ceased carrying the Al Jazeera networks by late Sunday afternoon. Moreover, Al Jazeera’s cable channel in Israel now displays a message stating, “In accordance with the government’s decision, Al Jazeera channel broadcasts were stopped in Israel.”
According to Netanyahu, _Al Jazeera_ reporters “harmed Israel’s security and incited against soldiers”. “It’s time to remove the Hamas mouthpiece from our country.””
The move evoked a strong response from the media network itself and also vowed to “pursue all available legal channels through international legal institutions in its quest to protect both its rights and journalists, as well as the public’s right to information”.
“Israel’s ongoing suppression of the free press, seen as an effort to conceal its actions in the Gaza Strip, stands in contravention of international and humanitarian law,” the network said. “Israel’s direct targeting and killing of journalists, arrests, intimidation and threats will not deter Al Jazeera.”
Other human rights groups also condemned the move. The UN’s Human Rights office called on the Israeli government to reverse the ban, posting on X: “A free & independent media is essential to ensuring transparency & accountability. Now, even more so given tight restrictions on reporting from Gaza.”
The Foreign Press Association also urged the Israeli government to reconsider its decision. The FPA said in a statement that Israel now joins “a dubious club of authoritarian governments to ban the station”.
Israel vs Al Jazeera
This move by Israel is the latest chapter in its feud with the network. In fact, for years, Israeli officials have accused the network of anti-Israeli bias.
Relations took a major downturn nearly two years ago when Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh was killed during an Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank.
And the criticism of the broadcaster has become even more pronounced since the 7 October 2023 attacks by Hamas in Israel. Since the war began, Al Jazeera has been carrying non-stop reportage of the war, and has been vocal about the casualties and loss of property in the war. However, Israeli officials accuse the network of publishing video statements from Hamas and other militant groups in the region, which, in their opinion, is inciting hatred.
In April, Netanyahu went as far as calling Al Jazeera a “terrorist channel” and had vowed to halt its activities in the country.
The Jewish nation has also accused the channel’s reporters and staff members to be “terror operatives”.
Notably, Israel’s decision to ban Al Jazeera threatens to heighten tensions with Qatar at a time when the Doha government is playing a key role in mediation efforts to halt the war in Gaza, along with Egypt and the United States.
The people behind Al Jazeera
Israel’s move to ban Al Jazeera has also put the spotlight on the ownership of the media network and its agenda.
Al Jazeera, the cable television news network, was launched in November 1996 after it was founded by Sheikh Hamad ibn Khalifa Al Thani, emir of Qatar. The network was guaranteed government financial backing for its first five years, and it transmitted from Doha, Qatar, and from bureaus around the world.
However, it claims to be independent, with its website stating, “Free from the shackles of censorship and government control, Al Jazeera has offered its audiences in the Arab world much needed freedom of thought, independence, and room for debate.”
Three years later, it began continuous programming. In just five years, by 2001, Al Jazeera succeeded in becoming the most watched Arab television station for news, and within 10 years more than three-quarters of Arabs identified Al Jazeera as being either their first or second choice for news.
However, with great success came also criticism from inside the Arab world as well as outside.
A month after the 9/11 attack, Al Jazeera broadcast a statement from Osama bin Laden . In it, bin Laden says the US will have no rest until the West Asia conflict is resolved and US military bases in the region are shut down. In November of 2011, it once again aired another tape of bin Laden in which he said that the war in Afghanistan is in a religious war and that “the people of Afghanistan had nothing to do with this matter.
Besides the US, the network has also antagonised many of the region’s Arab rulers particularly in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. In 2002, Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic ties with Qatar for Al Jazeera’s coverage of the country.
Moreover, the Arab uprisings in 2011 exacerbated many of these tensions. Al Jazeera’s coverage of the uprisings gave voice to dissidents and conveyed the often-violent crackdowns on protests. This coverage helped catalyse the protests, which cascaded across the region.
Even amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, Al Jazeera’s coverage has been criticised for being one-sided. As The Print notes in one of its reports, the network has also exhibited anti-Semitic sentiments. For instance, on 30 May 2017, Al Jazeera’s English-language account retweeted an anti-Semitic meme, prompting the network to issue an apology and attribute it as a “mistake.”
With inputs from agencies
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