The Israeli Ministry of Communications said on Sunday that it had confiscated Al Jazeera’s equipment on Sunday just hours after the Israeli cabinet ordered the closure of the broadcaster in its country, which the Qatar-based news network has lambasted as a “criminal act.”
“In addition, the network’s broadcasts on cable and satellite were stopped, and access to its websites was blocked,” the ministry said.
Inspectors from the communications ministry, accompanied by police, raided the Qatari broadcaster’s office at the Ambassador hotel in Jerusalem after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the cabinet agreed to its closure while their war in Gaza continues.
“The government headed by me unanimously decided: the incitement channel Al Jazeera will be closed in Israel,” Netanyahu said in a post on X.
Ofir Gendelman, a spokesperson for Netanyahu to the Arab media, said in a post on X that Al Jazeera’s “broadcast equipment will be confiscated, the channel’s correspondents will be prevented from working, the channel will be removed from cable and satellite television companies, and Al Jazeera’s websites will be blocked on the Internet.”
“Al Jazeera reporters harmed Israel’s security and incited against IDF soldiers. It is time to expel the mouthpiece of Hamas from our country,” Netanyahu said, according to Gendelman.
Al Jazeera’s broadcasts and access to its website have been blocked throughout Israel. The network has denounced Israel’s decision as a “criminal act that violates human rights in access to information.” The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) has petitioned the move to Israel’s Supreme Court.
“Israel’s suppression of the free press to cover up its crimes by killing and arresting journalists did not deter us from performing our duty. More than 140 Palestinian journalists have been martyred for the sake of the truth since the beginning of the war on Gaza,” said Al Jazeera.
“This is a dark day for the media and a dark day for democracy,” Israel’s Foreign Press Association added in a statement. “Israel joins a dubious club of authoritarian governments to ban the station.”
White House Spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre has called Israel’s decision a “concerning step”, and claims the US supports the work of journalists around the world, including those in Gaza.