Israel Prepares Steps To Close Al Jazeera Television Office

JAKARTA - Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said the government had prepared a necessary 'procedure' to close Qatar-funded Al Jazeera television.

This happened in a session held by the National Security Committee on Knesset (Israeli parliament) to discuss a bill that allowed Karhi to order the closure of the media if it was deemed detrimental to national security.

"We are preparing the necessary procedures for the closure of Al Jazeera. There are other problems that we may need to solve," he said as quoted by ANTARA from Anadolu, Thursday, February 22.

The bill was approved by the government on February 12 and passed the first discussion on Knesset.

Under the bill, the communications minister will be authorized to shut down foreign networks operating in Israel, and confiscate their equipment if the defense minister identifies that their broadcast poses a real danger to national security.

Karhi previously accused the Qatar news channel of working against Israel's defense interests, and sparked anti-Israeli sentiment.

"We managed to change emergency regulations in an unprecedented way, and we implemented it we closed [Lebanese channel] Al Mayadeen," Knesset said in a statement citing Kahri's words.

These media incite against Israel, and are channels that feed Israeli Arabs and those in the Palestinian Authority, he added.

Al Jazeera has offices in Israel and a team of correspondents working throughout the year, including covering Israel's ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 29,300 people since October 7.