By Abdelraouf Arnaout
JERUSALEM (AA) - The Israeli parliament (Knesset) on Thursday passed an extension to a law allowing the shutdown of foreign media outlets operating in the country till November.
The law in its final reading was passed by 26-8 votes in the 120-member Knesset, according to a parliamentary statement.
The law aims to stop the work of the Qatar-based Al Jazeera channel and the Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV known for its close ties to Hezbollah.
On May 5, the Israeli government decided to ban Al Jazeera, close its offices in Israel and restrict access to its website under the law, which 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 Israeli ban was widely criticized by international and regional organizations as an assault on media freedom.
Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.
More than 38,800 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 89,400 injured, according to local health authorities.
Over nine months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
*Writing by Ahmed Asmar