TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) – Israel on Sunday ordered the local offices of Qatar's Al Jazeera satellite news network to close, threatening to close ties between the broadcaster and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hardline government amid ceasefire negotiations brokered by Doha. A long-standing feud between them intensified. Balance is maintained with Hamas.
The unusual order includes confiscating broadcasting equipment, blocking the channel's news broadcasts and blocking its website, and is believed to be the first time Israel has shut down a foreign news organization.
Al Jazeera suspended Israel's main cable provider hours after the order. However, the company's website and streaming links across multiple online platforms remained up Sunday.
The network has been reporting non-stop on the Israeli-Hamas war since the militants' first cross-border attack on October 7, and has been in the Gaza Strip amid a heavy Israeli offensive that has resulted in casualties of its own personnel. We continue reporting 24 hours a day. While the Arabia division includes on-the-ground coverage of war casualties, it frequently releases verbatim video statements from Hamas and other militant groups in the region, angering Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Al-Jazeera reporters violated Israel's security and incited attacks on soldiers,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. “The time has come to remove Hamas spokespersons from our country.”
Al Jazeera issued a statement pledging to “pursue all legal avenues available to us through international law institutions to protect both our rights and the right to information of journalists and the public.”
“Israel's ongoing suppression of press freedom, which appears to be aimed at covering up its actions in the Gaza Strip, violates international and humanitarian law,” the network said. “Although more than 140 Palestinian journalists have been killed since the start of the Gaza war, Israel's direct targeting of journalists, killings, arrests, intimidation and intimidation does not hinder Al Jazeera's reporting. ”
According to Israeli media, the order will allow Israel to block the channel's operations in the country for 45 days.
The Israeli government has taken action against individual reporters for decades since its founding in 1948, but it broadly tolerates a turbulent media scene that includes foreign outlets around the world, including Arab countries. That changed with legislation passed last month. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the law would allow the government to take action against foreign routes deemed to be “damaging the country.”
Immediately after the announcement, Al Jazeera's British division began broadcasting a prerecorded message from one of its correspondents from a hotel in East Jerusalem, which the station had been using for several months. Palestinians hope to someday use it for their future state.
“They have also banned all devices, including my mobile phone,” said correspondent Imran Khan. “If I use it to do some reporting, the Israelis can easily confiscate it.”
The ban does not appear to affect the channel's operations in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, where Israel exercises control but is not sovereign territory.
The decision risks escalating tensions with Qatar, at a time when the Doha government is playing a key role in mediation efforts to stop the conflict. war in gazaalong with Egypt and the United States.
Qatar has strained relations with Netanyahu, particularly after comments he made suggesting Qatar was not putting enough pressure on Hamas to loosen the terms of the ceasefire agreement. Qatar hosts exiled Hamas leaders in its political office in Doha.
Although the two sides appear to be close to an agreement, multiple rounds of negotiations so far have ended without an agreement.
Hamas condemned the Israeli government's order in a statement on Sunday and called on international organizations to take action against Israel.
Immediately after the government's decision, National Unity Party ministers criticized the timing, saying, “It is due to political considerations as it has the potential to hinder efforts toward concluding negotiations.'' The party said it generally supported the decision.
Israel has long had a volatile relationship with Al Jazeera, accusing it of bias. Relations deteriorated significantly about two years ago when he was an Al Jazeera correspondent. Shireen Abu Akre Killed during an Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank.
Their relationship deteriorated further after the outbreak Israel's war against Hamas On October 7, an extremist group carried out a cross-border attack in southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages. Since then, Israeli military operations in Gaza have killed more than 34,000 people, according to local health officials, but the numbers are not broken down between civilians and fighters.
In December, Israeli airstrikes killed people. al jazeera cameraman He reported on the war in southern Gaza. Wael Dadou, the channel's Gaza bureau chief, was also injured in the same attack. Mr. Dahdu was a well-known correspondent to Palestinians during many wars and was later evacuated from Gaza. Wife, three children and one grandchild killed in Israeli airstrike.
Al Jazeera was one of the few international media outlets to remain in Gaza throughout the war, broadcasting bloody scenes of airstrikes and overcrowded hospitals, and condemning the massacres committed by Israel.
Israel has accused Al Jazeera, which is funded by the Qatari government, of collaborating with Hamas. However, criticism of the channel is not new. During the U.S. occupation of Iraq, the U.S. government named the station after the 2003 invasion toppled dictator Saddam Hussein and overbroadcast footage of late al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. did.
Al Jazeera is closed or blocked other middle east governments. They include Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, whose countries boycotted Doha amid a year-long political conflict that ended in 2021.
In 2013, Egyptian authorities raided a luxury hotel used by Al Jazeera as a base of operations after a military occupation following mass protests against President Mohamed Mursi. The channel appears to have been targeted for its continued coverage of the Muslim Brotherhood's protests against Morsi's ouster.
Three Al Jazeera employees, Australian Peter Greste, Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fahmi, and Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed, were sentenced to 10 years in prison, despite widespread international criticism. He was released in 2015 due to the spread of the disease.
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Gambrell reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writer Jack Jeffrey in Jerusalem contributed.