JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday swore to shut down Al Jazeera’s operations in Israel, calling it a “terror channel” that spreadsout incitement, after parliament passed a law cleaning the method for the closure.
Netanyahu’s promise intensified Israel’s long-running fight versus Al Jazeera. It likewise threatened to increase stress with Qatar, which owns the channel, at a time when the Doha federalgovernment is playing a secret function in mediation efforts to stop the war in Gaza.
The broadcaster condemned Netanyahu’s incitement claim as a “dangerous ridiculous lie.” Al Jazeera stated late Monday that it holds Netanyahu accountable for the security of its personnel and workplaces, that it would continue what it explained as its vibrant and expert protection, and that it “reserves the right to pursue every legal action.”
Israel has long had a rocky relationship with Al Jazeera, implicating it of predisposition versus Israel. Relations took a significant decline almost 2 years ago when Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh was eliminated throughout an Israeli military raid in the inhabited West Bank.
The Palestinian-American reporter was popular throughout the Arab world for her important protection of Israel, and the channel implicated Israel of deliberately killing her. Israel rejected the charge, stating she was mostlikely eliminated by Israeli fire in what appeared to be an unintentional shooting.
Those relations more scrubby listbelow the breakout of Israel’s war versus Hamas on Oct. 7, when the militant group brought out a cross-border attack in southern Israel that eliminated 1,200 individuals and took 250 others captive.
In December, an Israeli strike eliminated an Al Jazeera cameraman as he reported on the war in southern Gaza. The channel’s bureau chief in Gaza, Wael Dahdouh, was hurt in the verysame attack.
The network likewise blamed Israel for killing Dahdouh’s child in a strike in January. Hamza Dahdouh was working for Al Jazeera when the strike hit a carsandtruck in which he was takingatrip, it reported. The army lateron stated that Hamza Dahdouh was a member of Islamic Jihad, a militant group that signedupwith the Oct. 7 attack with Hamas.
Wael Dahdouh’s partner, child and another boy were eliminated along with his grandson in another Israeli strike last October. The channel broadcast images of Dahdouh gettingin the medicalfacility and offering method to sorrow as he peered over the body of his dead boy. Israel has not stated who the target of that strike was.
Al Jazeera is one of the coupleof global media outlets to stay in Gaza throughout the war, broadcasting bloody scenes of airstrikes and overcrowded healthcenters and implicating Israel of massacres. Israel