Netanyahu revives moves to shut Qatar's Al Jazeera TV in Israel

[BumRushDaShow]

Last edited Mon Apr 1, 2024, 02:55 PM - Edit history (2)

Source: Reuters

April 1, 2024 2:18 PM EDT Updated 33 min ago


JERUSALEM, April 1 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revived moves on Monday to shutter Qatari satellite television station Al Jazeera in Israel, pledging to take "immediate action" to close the station's local office while the war in Gaza continues. Hours after his party spokesperson said parliament would be convened to ratify the necessary law, the Knesset approved the bill allowing the temporary closure in Israel of foreign broadcasters considered to be a threat to national security.

The law approved on Monday would allow Netanyahu and the security cabinet to shut the station for a period of 45 days, which would be renewable, and would stay in force until the end of July or until the end of major military operations in Gaza.

Neither the station's main office in Israel nor the Qatari government in Doha immediately responded to a request for comment. Al Jazeera, which has been fiercely critical of Israel's military operation in Gaza, from where it has reported around the clock, has previously accused Israel of systematically targeting its offices and personnel.

Communications Minister Shlomo Karai accused Al Jazeera of encouraging hostilities against Israel. "It is impossible to tolerate a media outlet, with press credentials from the government press office and with offices in Israel, acting from within against us, certainly in wartime," he said. Israeli officials have long complained about Al Jazeera's coverage, but stopped short of taking action, mindful of Qatar's bankrolling of Palestinian construction projects in the Gaza Strip - seen by all sides as a means of staving off conflict.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/netanyahu-revives-moves-shut-qatars-al-jazeera-tv-israel-2024-04-01/

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Article updated.

Original article -

April 1, 2024 9:51 AM EDT


JERUSALEM, April 1 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revived moves on Monday to shut down Qatari satellite television station Al Jazeera in Israel, saying through his party spokesperson that parliament would be convened in the evening to ratify the necessary law.

Thereafter, Netanyahu "will take immediate action to shut down Al Jazeera in accordance with procedure set out in the law", the Likud party statement said. Israel has previously accused the station of agitating against it among Arab viewers.

Neither the station's main office in Israel nor the Qatari government in Doha immediately responded to a request for comment. Al Jazeera has previously accused Israel of systematically targeting its offices and personnel.

Israeli officials have long complained about Al Jazeera's coverage but stopped short of taking action, mindful of Qatar's bankrolling of Palestinian construction projects in the Gaza Strip - seen by all sides as a means of staving off conflict.

[prodigitalson]

1. of course

[Lonestarblue]

2. Bibi doesn't want the world to know anything about his murders of Palestinians.

But mostly he doesn’t want Israelis to know that he is committing war crimes, preventing humanitarian food aid, and destroying hospitals to prevent medical treatment from IDF bombs. Seeing photos of starving children or those with all their limbs blown off might not sit well with some Israelis. T was in the news some weeks ago that Israeli news broadcasts refused to show the damages in Gaza or any Palestinians harmed by IDF bombs and attacks. I don’t know if that’s still the case. If so, it’s a reason for Bibi to get rid of outside news.

[EX500rider]

3. Not surprising they don't want the hamas cheerleaders broadcasting in Israel

Which country do the leaders of hamas hide out in again?...oh, that's right Qatar

[tornado34jh]

7. Who else other than Al Jazeera is reporting on their war crimes?

Also, Netanyahu and his government still has to answer questions about what they knew in the months before Hamas attacked and also why they didn't act upon the information that was given to them. Hamas may have been the ones that attacked Israel, but if the government knew that Hamas was planning this attack months in advance and that they didn't act upon it, they bear part of the blame. That is no excuse for knowing that an attack was being planned and not acting upon it.

You realize that a big reason for why this whole thing with Palestine is going on is because of his fucking government's policies. There are people in his cabinet who want to eliminate the Palestinians. Tell me, if you are a Palestinian, would you just let that go or would you fight back? I'm not defending Hamas here, I am saying for the Palestinians, it's either fight to survive, or you're dead. There are far-right Zionist extremists, and Netanyahu has them in his Cabinet. He is a big reason for why this war came in. By the way, many of his predecessors had the same thought, long before Hamas even formed.

[EX500rider]

8. Actually if the people of Gaza had just lived peacefully with Israel they'd be fine

When they leave Israel alone Israel leaves them alone .
And instead of investing their money in tunnels and rockets they put it into hotels and jobs they'd be fine

[tornado34jh]

15. And what do you think happened during Nakba in 1948?

There were Zionist paramilitaries at that time. Don't act like there weren't Zionist terrorist groups during that time. It was the Zionist groups that forced out the Palestinians in most of their historical territory. Even if the Palestinians didn't fight, that wouldn't have stopped the violent Zionist groups. Even now, there are groups who want to kill Palestinians even if they had never fought. What excuse does that give? I am not saying that Hamas, Hezbollah, and other Islamic terrorist groups aren't responsible for a lot of the conflict, but it is not solely Palestinians. Are you saying that even if they never supported Hamas or never fought against Israel, they should be forced out of their homes by violent Zionist forces?

[EX500rider]

19. That was 75 years ago

We are talking about now. And if the Arabs had peacefully accepted the UN partition they would have had their own country for 75 years.
The Israelis pulled out of Gaza almost 20 years ago. Instead of investing in the economy & people of Gaza they continuedly invest in rockets to fire into Israeli cities and tunnels to hide their weapons, and attack Israel every chance they get.
No "Zionist forces" were trying to force anybody out of Gaza.

[tornado34jh]

21. Well, history has always been used as a weapon, and the Palestinians aren't going to forget something like that

I wasn't talking just about Gaza, I'm talking about all of Palestinian territory, including what at that time was Mandatory Palestine. Netanyahu wanted settlers in the West Bank, and that area is not controlled by Hamas, so what's the excuse there?

[NickB79]

10. You never wondered why AJ is one of the only news orgs that Hamas allows to report in Gaza?

And why they threaten to shoot other journalists who enter?

Hell, see how fast an AJ "journalist" spins around to avoid an old Palestinian man trying to tell the world that Hamas fighters are hiding with the wounded in a hospital:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/al-jazeera-reporter-cuts-off-gaza-hospital-interview-after-patient-says-hamas-is-hiding-among-wounded/ar-AA1jYpSS

A clip from a recent Al Jazeera broadcast has gone viral, showing the Qatari network’s correspondent interviewing a patient at a Gaza hospital who complains in front of the camera that Hamas fighters are hiding among the sick in the medical center.

Before the elderly patient can continue speaking, the Al Jazeera correspondent moves away so that the message cannot continue to be heard on air.

[tornado34jh]

12. So let's say that it was Der Spiegel, DW, Reuters, etc. that had said Netanyahu did war crimes instead of Al Jazeera

Are you telling me that they then would be wrong even if they were factual evidence? Again, Netanyahu is no saint in this war. Is he next just going to ban any media that is critical of him? Who do you think is responsible for bring in settlers into Palestine? They didn't just go in there for no reason. It still doesn't absolve Netanyahu of scrutiny. Why do you think he was charged with corruption? For the record, most major news sources talked about that, not just Al Jazeera. You act as if they are no extremists in Netanyahu's party. Don't take my word for it, look up what some of his cabinet members said. I still think Netanyahu is one of the most corrupt people out there.

[NickB79]

16. Netanyahu's corruption has nothing to do with Al Jazeera's carrying water for Hamas

They can, and do, both exist at the same time.

Al Jazeera is a mouthpiece for Hamas.

Netanyahu is a corrupt RW politician.

The difference is, Netanyahu can (and likely will) be voted out of office soon, and then brought up on charges, because Israel is a democracy.

Hamas in an authoritarian regime, and won't surrender power to anyone without spilling blood. And the leaders of Hamas get to live in first-class villas in Qatar as billionaires, where Al Jazeera is also stationed out of, as part of the Qatari government's media.

[tornado34jh]

20. Who's going to sanction Qatar then?

I am aware about what Hamas is, but if that is the case, why is no one sanctioning Qatar then? By the way, I doubt Qatar is the only country supplying Hamas. But let's disregard Al Jazeera for now, who else is reporting on the corruption of Netanyahu? I have yet to hear other media talk about it unless someone can tell me otherwise.

[Martin68]

4. Authoritarian fascists always destroy any independent media.

[moniss]

5. The pictures today

from the BBC of the Al-Shifa hospital are causing quite a stir. There is little left of the buildings that would be usable. Nurses were being quoted as saying they haven't been able to care for patients even to the point of removing the dead for burial. They were quoted as saying the stench of dead bodies of patients in the ruins is very strong. That hospital was reported as being the most modern and best equipped/staffed prior to the invasion. Now it is basically just a bombed out hulk. So in addition to no planning for providing food and water there was also no plan for providing any medical care for the civilians once the IDF destroyed everything and moved on.

All of the need for food,water and medical assistance was obvious before the invasion even got underway because the Israeli government knew the level of devastation it was authorizing the IDF to undertake. Failing to have any aid planning even close to the scale needed prior to invasion shows intent and a conscious disregard for the civilian population. By the statements of the Israeli leadership prior to the invasion there were between 25,000-35,000 Hamas fighters in Gaza among the over 2.3 million people living there. By consciously destroying all infrastructure for water,power, food supply and medical care with virtually little to nothing to help the overwhelming majority of civilians who are not Hamas fighters the Israeli government cannot make any reasonable argument against a finding of collective punishment.

The Israeli government has tried to argue in the past that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to Gaza or the West Bank but that argument was rejected by court ruling years ago. The UN has been trying to get compliance with all manner of various resolutions forever as we all know without much success.

It would appear that the Israeli leadership doesn't care about being found in violation as long as they keep getting the resupply they want. I think a great many of the citizens of Israel are horrified at what their government has become and are also upset that the government seems to not be willing to go as far as needed to bring the hostages home alive. Bombing it all to the ground is not working.

Al Jazeera can lean heavy on seeing things through a "one way" lens but at the same time I have seen them cover some news and events in the Middle East that I don't see covered in other media. I think reporting about the refugee camps in southern Lebanon and Syria is important and the wider implications of the conflicts and players in those regions should receive a much greater focus and understanding by the world at large. It would shock most people to know how many Israeli air strikes take place every year and how deep into Lebanon and Syria they go.

Just today Syria reported that the Iranian consulate in Damascus was destroyed by an Israeli air strike. Syria as a country has been engulfed in civil war for years now along with attacks from the US, Russia, Israel etc. Assad clings to power through his brutality but there is a real question of whether the country can remain intact even if he goes. Inflation is crippling and the vast majority of the people are in deep poverty. It's hardly a recipe for a stable, recovering situation when the dictator is finally gone. We've seen this before all over the world and most clearly in Africa, South America and Central America.

[NickB79]

11. Yeah, Hamas hiding mortars and grenades in a maternity wing is a good way to get a hospital destroyed in a war zone

Not to mention the hundreds of Hamas fighters captured or killed inside, including high-ranking officials:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/idf-raid-on-gazas-al-shifa-hospital-results-in-death-of-senior-hamas-commander-faiq-mabhouh/ar-BB1k9rFB

In a recent high-stakes operation, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) conducted a targeted raid on Gaza’s largest medical facility, the Al Shifa Hospital, resulting in the death of Faiq Mabhouh, a high-ranking member of Hamas’s internal security force. The IDF stated that Mabhouh was engaged in a gunfight and was killed after refusing to surrender.

Because as other DU members have been pointing out for some time, a hospital loses it's Geneva Convention protection when it's used for war.

[moniss]

13. You can use that aspect as a defense for

destroying Al-Shifa if you want. My comment is about the provision of medical services and food and water. The hospital as a building may lose it's GC protection but the patients and surrounding civilian population do not. I don't care if they find Hitler hiding there the civilians do not lose their protections and the invading force cannot shirk it's duty to those protections for that civilian population.

People can go on and on about how Hamas did this or that and there is no shortage of condemnation of them from me but a country does not get to brutalize a civilian population in retaliation, carelessness, vindictiveness, furtherance of political goals or willing disregard to plan for the adequate provision of humanitarian aid that would be needed due to the level of destruction planned.

[NickB79]

17. Hospitals don't get to be bases for Hamas to fire from indescriminately

Literally no military in the world, included the US, would turn a blind eye to a massive hospital complex full of weapons and fighters.

Hamas chose to use the hospital, knowing full well what gamble they were taking. The loss of the hospital, and of the care it provides to the civilians, is on them, because the only alternative would be to let Hamas fighters snipe and mortar IDF troops indefinitely from Al Shifa. US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan destroyed hospitals and mosques for exactly the same reason.

I'd suggest that the IDF could set up MASH units to provide care instead, but I'm 100% certain they'd draw Hamas fire as well.

[moniss]

18. You missed the entire point

but it's OK.

[truthisfreedom]

9. If Israel wants to look like a monster,

This is the way to do it. Silence dissent.

[Aristus]

14. No national leader who has attempted to shut down media mass communication in his country

has ever turned out to be the good guy.