Muhammed Sabry
05 May 2024•Update: 06 May 2024
JERUSALEM
Israeli authorities raided the offices of Qatar-owned Al Jazeera television in Jerusalem and confiscated its equipment on Sunday, shortly after a government decision to shut down the broadcaster.
“Our inspectors, supported by the police, raided Al Jazeera offices in Jerusalem and confiscated its equipment,” far-right Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said on his X account.
Video footage released by Karhi's office showed Israeli officials entering the office and documenting the equipment inside.
According to The Times of Israel newspaper, the news channel was pulled off the air in the country and is no longer available on its two biggest TV providers Yes and Hot.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said early Sunday that his government has decided to close Al Jazeera’s operations in Israel.
Last month, Israel’s Knesset (parliament) passed legislation allowing the closure of the Al Jazeera television.
Under the legislation, the communications minister is empowered to shut down foreign networks operating in Israel and confiscate their equipment if the defense minister identifies that their broadcast poses “an actual harm to the state’s security.”
The Doha-based television denounced the Israeli government's decision to close its offices as a “criminal act.”
“Ironically as the world marked World Press Freedom Day; the Israeli government closed Al Jazeera’s offices, preventing the public from accessing its content, disregarding the universally recognized fundamentals of freedom of expression,” it said in a statement.
The pan-Arab television vowed to pursue all available legal channels through international legal institutions to protect both its rights and journalists, as well as the public’s right to information.
“Al Jazeera urges all media freedom, human rights, and other concerned organizations, to condemn the repeated attacks on journalists and the press by Israel, and to hold those responsible to account,” it added.
Al Jazeera, which broadcasts in both Arabic and English, has an office in Israel and a team of correspondents working year-round, including covering Israel’s ongoing war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed over 34,600 people since Oct. 7, 2023.
