Israel extends closure of Al Jazeera television for another 45 days

By Zein Khalil

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi extended the closure of the Qatari Al Jazeera television.

“We will not allow the Al Jazeera terrorist channel to broadcast in Israel and endanger our soldiers,” Kahri said in a statement.

The Israeli minister claimed that the ban was “unanimously adopted by the government, based on updated opinions from all security sources, which state unequivocally that the channel's broadcasts are a real threat to the security of the state.”

“The closure orders will be extended in the future as well,” Kahri said.

The minister did not specify for how long the ban was extended. Israel Hayom newspaper, however, reported that the closure was extended for 45 days.

On Wednesday, the Tel Aviv District Court upheld a 35-day ban on Al Jazeera television, instead of the 45 days requested by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi.

On May 5, the Israeli government decided to ban Al Jazeera, close its offices in Israel and restrict access to its website under a law passed by the Knesset (parliament) that allows the communications minister to shut down foreign networks operating in Israel and confiscate their equipment if the country’s defense minister identifies that their broadcasts pose “an actual harm to the state’s security.”

The Doha-based broadcaster condemned the Israeli ban as a “blatant attack on press freedom.”

The Israeli ban has been widely criticized by international and regional organizations as an assault on media freedom.

Israeli officials have frequently criticized Al Jazeera, particularly for its extensive coverage of the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 Hamas attack despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 37,000 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and nearly 84,500 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

* Writing by Ikram Kouachi