Al Jazeera said the move was part of Israel’s “ongoing repression of the free press”. It added: “Israel’s direct targeting of journalists and killings, arrests, and intimidation will not deter Al Jazeera from its commitment to covering the war.”
Netanyahu’s government has been highly critical of Al Jazeera for years, and even more so since its war with the Hamas terrorist group began on October 7 following the group’s atrocities in Israel. The images of human suffering in Gaza broadcast by Al Jazeera have weakened Israel’s campaign by reducing international support for the war against Hamas.
Israel strongly objects to the editorial approach taken by Al Jazeera towards the conflict, as well as the use of its statements by Hamas.
Al Jazeera has objected to Israel’s targeting of journalists and claimed that more than 140 Palestinian journalists have been killed since the war began. During the previous bombing of Gaza in 2021, Israel leveled an office block where several media outlets, including Al Jazeera and AP, were operating. No one got hurt.
In 2022, Israeli Defense Forces shot and killed Shirin Abu Aqleh, one of Al Jazeera’s most famous journalists. Israeli ministers initially expressed confusion over who killed the journalist, but later accepted responsibility and apologized, although Israel has refused to cooperate with the FBI and International Criminal Court investigations into his death. During the current war, A shrine of Abu Aqleh was demolished with a bulldozer,
The Foreign Press Association, which represents journalists working in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank, condemned Israel’s most recent legal ban on Al Jazeera.
“With this decision, Israel joins a dubious club of authoritarian governments that ban the station,” it said. “It is a dark day for the media. This is a dark day for democracy.”
Al Jazeera has the largest established presence in Gaza of any international outlet. Israel allows foreign journalists access to Gaza only through strictly controlled press tours that he coordinates,