Government votes to shut down Al Jazeera in Israel

Israel's cabinet on Sunday voted unanimously to shut down the Qatari news outlet Al Jazeera's operations in Israel, nearly six months after first announcing its intentions to do so due to security concerns related to the Israel-Hamas war.

The decision, which requires recertification every 45 days, includes shutting down Al Jazeera broadcasts in Arabic and English; shutting down Al Jazeera's offices in Israel; seizing equipment used for its broadcasts; and limiting access to its websites.

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi signed an executive order soon after the vote passed, and it thus came into effect immediately.

Videos on Sunday afternoon showed law enforcement officials arriving at Al Jazeera's Jerusalem offices in the Ambassador Hotel. HOT, one of Israel's major television service providers, announced that it had shut down Al Jazeera's broadcasts. Another provider, YES, ran the following message on the blacked-out channel, "In accordance with the government decision, the Al Jazeera station's broadcasts have been stopped in Israel."

In a joint statement following the vote, Netanyahu said that "Al Jazeera correspondents have harmed the security of Israel and incited against IDF soldiers. The time has come to eject Hamas's mouthpiece from our country."

Karhi added, "We will take immediate action against those who use freedom of the press to harm the security of Israel and IDF soldiers, and incite to terrorism in time of war. There will be no freedom of expression for Hamas's mouthpieces in Israel."

Al Jazeera condemned the decision, calling it a "criminal action."

"Israel's suppression of free press to cover up its crimes by killing and arresting journalists has not deterred us from performing our duty," it said.

Decision goes against Mossad chief's position

Israel's National Security Cabinet was scheduled to hold the vote already on Thursday, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delayed it due to concern that the vote would not pass. According to a spokesperson for Minister-without-portfolio MK Benny Gantz's National Unity party, this was because Mossad chief David Barnea requested that the government delay it for a few days, so as to avoid possible negative diplomatic ramifications relating to Qatar, a mediator between Israel and Hamas in negotiations for a deal to free Israeli hostages. The decision required approval from either the government's National Security Cabinet (NSC) or the general cabinet, and Netanyahu chose to move forwards on Sunday in the general cabinet.

National Unity's three ministers were not present at the meeting and did not take part in the vote. The party said in a statement that its ministers "support closing Al Jazeera's broadcasts and even announced that they would support its closure in the recent (national security) cabinet meeting."

However, "Bringing the topic forward this morning for a vote in the government meeting, is a correct decision but with terrible timing, that could undermine efforts to exhaust the (hostage deal) negotiations, and stems from political considerations," the party said.

Karhi countered by accusing the centrist National Unity of acting like a "fifth column" within the government. According to Karhi, the decision received "unequivocal validation" by all security officials.     

The decision was based on a law that Israel's Knesset (parliament) passed on April 2, which expires on July 31. The legislation will therefore need to be extended if the government wishes to extend the banning of Al Jazeera beyond that date. The law itself is also facing a constitutional challenge in the High Court of Justice by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) based on its violation of free speech, and the state has until May 15 to file its preliminary response to the court.

The government passed emergency executive measures at the start of the war that would have enabled it to shut down Al Jazeera temporarily. These were in effect from October 21 until January 20. However, the government refrained from implementing these measures during that period, reportedly due to possible negative diplomatic ramifications relating to Qatar.

The legislation that passed in April was aimed at giving the cabinet firmer legal footing to move against Al Jazeera. In its decision on Sunday, the cabinet explained that it had classified opinions from the Shin Bet on April 9 deeming Al Jazeera a national security threat. The IDF and Mossad also provided classified opinions supporting limiting Al Jazeera's broadcasts in Israel.

According to the law, the decision must be brought before a regional chief justice or deputy chief justice within 24 hours, who then have three days to decide whether or not to change the decision or limit the length of the ban.

In its petition to the High Court of Justice against the law, argued that it unnecessarily limited free speech and was thus unconstitutional. ACRI said that while there was no arguing the fact that Al Jazeera ran a "pro-Palestinian" narrative, this was not a sufficient reason to shut down the network. In addition, the network provides content from Arab states and includes Israeli Arab perspectives that have been quoted numerously on mainstream Israeli media, indicating that its content was viewed as important, ACRI added. The NGO acknowledged that Al-Jazeera had included content that incited against Israel. Still, the severity of this incitement was no worse than incitement against Palestinians on mainstream Israeli websites, ACRI argued.

ACRI filed a request on Thursday that the court issue a temporary order barring the government from deciding to shut down Al Jazeera until the case is heard. The court denied the request, and said it would consider a temporary order after receiving the state's preliminary position.