In the Midst of the Gaza Assault: Unraveling Netanyahu's Vilification of Al-Jazeera and Its Ban Attempt

"Al Jazeera harmed Israel's security, actively participated in the October 7 massacre, and incited against Israeli soldiers."

This was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statement in early April 2024, revealing the extent of the Qatari channel's influence during the ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza.

Netanyahu's statement came after the Knesset (Parliament) approved a law allowing the ban of foreign channels in "Israel," specifically targeted at Al-Jazeera.

Vote and Attack

In response to the decision, Haaretz stated that the Knesset voted with a majority of 71 out of 120 members, with 10 opposing, in the second and third readings on the law allowing the cessation of Al-Jazeera's broadcast in "Israel."

Commenting on the vote, Netanyahu stated on X, formerly Twitter, that Al-Jazeera will not broadcast from "Israel" after the Knesset's vote on the law.

"It is time to remove the bullhorn of Hamas from our country … Al-Jazeera will no longer be broadcast from Israel. I intend to act immediately in accordance with the new law to stop the channel's activity."

Netanyahu also warmly welcomed the law proposed by Minister of Communications Shlomo Karhi with the support of coalition members.

Karhi's law states that if the Prime Minister is convinced that a foreign channel harms the country, action can be taken against it, according to Yedioth Ahronoth.

After the Prime Minister's approval, the law allows the Minister of Communications to issue an order to stop the broadcast of a foreign channel if its content is deemed to truly affect state security."

Minister Karhi commented on the vote, saying, "We have provided an effective and rapid tool to act against those who use press freedom to harm Israel's security."

Al-Jazeera strongly condemned Netanyahu's statements accusing it of harming Israeli Occupation's security, describing them as a serious and laughable lie.

In its statement, Al-Jazeera stated that Netanyahu found no justification for his continued attacks on the channel and press freedom other than lies and defamation, seeing his statements as part of a series of deliberate Israeli attacks to silence its voice.

It emphasized that "the allegations and accusations will not deter Al-Jazeera from continuing its coverage with courage and professionalism, and we reserve all our legal rights, holding Netanyahu responsible for the safety of Al-Jazeera's crews and facilities around the world."

The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) considered the Knesset's approval "a retaliatory decision aimed at obliterating the truth of its heinous crimes."

The movement said in a statement that "this retaliatory decision comes as the culmination of campaigns of tightening, blockade, and terrorism imposed by the fascist occupation against journalists and journalistic work, and for its crimes and violations against them."

The movement called on international human rights and journalistic institutions to "condemn Zionist intentions toward Al-Jazeera and expose the Israeli Occupation's barbaric behavior toward journalists, intensify media coverage from Gaza, and broadcast the truth of Zionist crimes to the world."

Vulnerable to Being Targeted

Al-Jazeera has extensively covered the ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza since October 7, recently airing several exclusive videos depicting Israeli drones killing innocent civilians within the enclave. 

This coverage made it vulnerable to targeting, resulting in casualties, injuries, arrests, and harassment of its journalists and their families during the Gaza onslaught. 

Members of the family of Al-Jazeera correspondent Wael al-Dahdouh were among those killed in various attacks by the Israeli Occupation army, including his wife, son (who worked for the same channel), daughter, and 18-month-old grandson.

Later, in December 2023, al-Dahdouh was injured and his colleague Samer Abu Daqqa was killed in an Israeli drone attack in the southern Gaza Strip.

Al-Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif revealed that he had received threats from Israeli officers to stop his coverage of the Israeli war on the Strip, confirming that he would not comply and would continue his journalistic coverage.

Al-Jazeera correspondent Ismail Abu Omar was also injured in an Israeli shelling while performing his journalistic duties, resulting in the amputation of his foot.

In turn, Al-Jazeera correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul was beaten and arrested by the Israeli Occupation army during their raid on Shifa Hospital at the end of March, only to be released later.

Journalists in Gaza face particularly high risks during their coverage of the Israeli aggression, including devastating Israeli airstrikes, communication disruptions, shortages of supplies, and widespread power outages.

Their news-gathering tasks have become even more challenging due to communication disruptions in Gaza, where phone lines and internet connections are regularly cut off during times of conflict.

Until April 1, 2024, the number of journalist martyrs in Gaza rose to 138 since October 7, according to the government media office.

Since October 7, the Israeli Occupation has attempted to control the global narrative with a vast amount of misleading information aimed at dehumanizing Palestinians and justifying its crimes in Gaza.

In this regard, The Nation stated that Israeli propaganda has been extremely poor and pitiful, and it is extremely difficult to regain any credibility whatsoever among the peoples of the United States and Europe after its lies were exposed.

On November 17, it was stated that the continuous lies put "Israel" in a difficult position, as they might find something (like tunnels under hospitals) that no one will believe at this stage, so their credibility is shot.

Due to the collapse of credibility, Palestinians estimate that the Israeli Occupation resorts to an alternative operation of targeting journalists and restricting their work to expose its crimes.

What's the Purpose?

Ahmad Tibi, head of the Democratic Arab Front for Change in the Israeli Knesset, told Al-Jazeera Live that there are two goals behind the decision to close Al-Jazeera.

The first goal is populist, to appease the extremist Yemeni base, especially during the months of war, by demonizing Al-Jazeera in Israeli media and institutions.

The second goal is practical, meaning that they succeeded in silencing Israeli channels and preventing them from conveying the truth about the atrocities committed by the Israeli army in Gaza, according to the Arab deputy in the Knesset.

"Whoever commits war crimes, like Netanyahu, doesn't want people to see them. He believes that by preventing people from seeing them, he becomes innocent of committing them and cannot be held accountable, exposed, or disgraced for his crimes such as killing children, bombing mosques, schools, and hospitals, and starving people."

Tibi pointed out that "Netanyahu today is addressing his electoral base by preventing Al-Jazeera from consuming a local election-based partisan from one hand and also preventing coverage of the war crimes conveyed by the same channel. Here, the truth is the primary target."

In the same context, Rami Abdu, founder and the chairman of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, posted on X and said, "By banning Al-Jazeera, Israel has almost completely ensured the concealment of its crimes from the world."

"Israel previously operated on three strategies: first, preventing international journalists from accessing [Gaza]; second, casting doubt on everything documented by Palestinian cameras; and third, cutting communication networks."

He pointed out that "Al-Jazeera provided a very small window to expose the crimes, and now the window will be closed."

As for the Kuwaiti academic Abdullah al-Shayji, he commented on the Israeli decision, saying: "It is clear that Al-Jazeera has disturbed the Arabs and troubled the Zionists by exposing their crimes and massacres."

After the decision, there are fears that "Israel" will increasingly target journalists working for the channel inside Gaza, although they have not been spared from its crimes for more than 6 months during the Israeli ongoing aggression on Gaza. There are also concerns about the actual implementation of the decision against Al-Jazeera in the coming days.