Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just said that they decided to shut down the Israeli news station Al Jazeera and take some of their equipment. This news comes after Netanyahu said that Hamas’s “mouthpiece” has been Al Jazeera.
Netanyahu said, “Today, the Government talked about shutting down Al Jazeera broadcasts in Israel after the Security Cabinet talked about it and because I told them to do so.”
He went on to say, “Al Jazeera reporters have made Israel less safe and stirred up hatred against IDF soldiers.” It’s time to kick Hamas’s speakeasy out of our country.
“We will act right away against those who use freedom of the press to threaten Israel and IDF soldiers and encourage terrorism during a war,” said Karhi, the Israeli Minister of Communications.
“There will be no freedom of expression for Hamas’s mouthpieces in Israel,” Karhi said. Al Jazeera will be shut down right away, and its tools will be taken away.
In a statement on X, Al Jazeera says this is “lies and lies about” these people.
“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,” the news outlet said.
They went on to say that they don’t believe any claims made by the Israeli government that their media standards have been broken.
In April, Netanyahu was the first person to say that they were going to stop Al Jazeera from airing. “Al Jazeera has hurt Israel’s security, took part in the October 7 massacre, and stirred up hatred against IDF soldiers.” “It’s time to get rid of Hamas’s speaker in our country,” he said at the time.
This goes back even further, to when Hamas praised Al Jazeera for reporting on the fighting in Israel a few years ago.
