Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his cabinet unanimously decided to close Al Jazeera broadcaster’s operations in Israel, but did not say when the policy would take effect.
The move came after Israeli lawmakers recently approved a new media law – widely known as the “Al Jazeera law” – which gives the government powers to ban foreign broadcasters if they are considered a risk to state security.
Netanyahu announced the Cabinet’s decision in a post on X, formerly Twitter, in which he called Al Jazeera “the hate channel”.
The Israeli government has accused Al Jazeera, based in the Gulf emirate of Qatar, of reporting biased information about the ongoing war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.
Al Jazeera reported extensively on the catastrophic situation in the Palestinian territory and showed images of death and destruction that are rarely seen on Israeli television stations.
He has rejected allegations of bias and in the past accused Netanyahu of spreading “new lies and inflammatory slander” against the network.
Al Jazeera also accused the Israeli military of deliberately targeting journalists on several occasions.
