Israel shuts down Al Jazeera’s operations, raids Jerusalem office

JERUSALEM – Israel’s government moved Sunday to shut down the Al Jazeera Media Network’s operations in Israel, clamping down on one of the few international broadcasters providing largely uninterrupted coverage of the Gaza war.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the decision followed a unanimous vote by Israel’s war cabinet, posting on X that “the incitement channel Al Jazeera will be closed in Israel.” In a separate statement, he accused Al Jazeera correspondents of having “harmed the security of Israel” and said “the time has come to eject Hamas’s mouthpiece from our country.”

Israel’s actions placed it in the company of several autocratic countries in the region that have tried to stifle the network – which has attracted praise and controversy since its was founded nearly 30 years ago and helped reshape the media landscape in the Arab world.

“This is a dark day for the media,” the board of Israel’s Foreign Press Association said in a statement. “This is a dark day for democracy.”

The move also threatened to rankle Qatar, Al Jazeera’s sponsor, at a time when the country is playing a key role as mediator in cease-fire negotiations between Hamas and Israel.

On Sunday afternoon, several uniformed and plainclothes Israeli officers were seen by a Washington Post reporter entering one of Al Jazeera’s offices in a hotel in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem. The officers carted out camera equipment, cases and cardboard boxes as a group of photographers looked on.

“They confiscated the equipment and closed the office, as per the order,” Stefanie Dekker, a senior foreign correspondent for Al Jazeera English, said as she left the office, referring to the government edict shutting down the channel.

In a statement Sunday, the network criticized what it called a “deceptive and slanderous move,” occurring less than a week after World Press Freedom Day.

“Al Jazeera Media Network strongly condemns and denounces this criminal act that violates human rights and the basic right to access of information. Al Jazeera affirms its right to continue to provide news and information to its global audiences,” it said.

It added that its news websites had been blocked and some transmissions halted in Israel, while its staff had accreditations withdrawn. The network said it “vehemently rejects the allegations presented by Israeli authorities suggesting professional media standards have been violated,” and accused Israel of attempting to “conceal its actions in the Gaza Strip.”

It was not immediately clear whether the government order would affect the channel’s operations in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, or the ability of visiting correspondents for the channel to remain in Israel.

Imran Khan, another senior correspondent for Al Jazeera English, said in a post on Instagram that the ban “was only from Israel” and would not stop the channel from broadcasting from the West Bank or Gaza.

The network was created in 1996 and includes English- and Arabic-language news channels, as well as news websites and a large social media presence. Funded by the Qatari government, it quickly became known for hosting freewheeling debates on delicate topics, previously unheard of on state-run Arab media. Its audience grew as it covered the U.S.-led military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the Arab Spring uprisings that began in late 2010.

In recent years, the Arabic-language channels have earned the ire of regional governments for giving space to Islamist groups, including militant organizations like Hamas, which frequently provides the network with exclusives. Since the beginning of the Gaza war, Al Jazeera reporters across the enclave have provided intimate and highly critical coverage of Israel’s military operations. Other international outlets have been barred by Israel and Egypt from entering Gaza.

The channel’s employees in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories have repeatedly come under fire over the years.

Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian American correspondent for the network, was killed by Israeli gunfire while on assignment in the West Bank in May 2022.

Al Jazeera’s bureau chief in Jerusalem, Walid Omary, told the network Sunday that there have been more than 50 attacks against Al Jazeera journalists since Oct. 7, when Hamas militants killed some 1,200 people inside Israel.

In December, Al Jazeera cameraman, Samer Abu Daqqa, 45, was killed by an Israeli drone attack as he reported in Khan Younis. A veteran Gaza correspondent, Wael al-Dahdouh, was also injured in the attack. Dahdouh’s son Hamza, also a journalist, and drone operator Mustafa Thuraya were killed in an Israeli drone strike in January.

The network vowed Sunday 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.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists had called on Israeli authorities not to impose a ban when it was first proposed it October, saying that a “plurality of media voices is essential in order to hold power to account, especially in times of war.”

Israel’s Foreign Press Association said the move to shutter Al Jazeera was “cause for concern for all supporters of a free press.”

“With this decision, Israel joins a dubious club of authoritarian governments to ban the station,” the group said. “We urge the government to reverse this harmful step and uphold its commitment to freedom of the press – including outlets whose coverage it may not like.”

The United Nations’ Human Rights office also urged the Israeli government to overturn the ban.

As of Friday, at least 97 journalists and media workers have been killed in the war so far, according to preliminary investigations by the CPJ – among them 92 Palestinians, two Israelis and three Lebanese nationals.

“Israeli military authorities adamantly deny targeting journalists or provide only scant information when they acknowledge press killings,” the CPJ said in its latest report. “Critical information about their lives and work may have been lost forever.”

The cabinet decision Sunday comes a month after Israeli lawmakers voted 71-10 in favor of the bill that allowed Netanyahu’s government to ban Al Jazeera from operating in Israel, citing national security concerns.

At the time, the Biden administration offered muted criticism, with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre calling the news, “concerning” and adding that the United States believes “in the freedom of the press.”

Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi vowed Sunday to “immediately implement” the order, but the government’s decision could be brought before a district court within 24 hours. The judge can impose a time limit on the order, which currently provides for a 45-day shutdown that can be extended for another 45 days.

- – -

Suliman reported from London. Lior Soroka, Annabelle Timsit and Rachel Pannett contributed to this report.