![Al Jazeera](https://images.prismic.io/vfi-news/65cfd2769be9a5b998b5f3e5_Al-Jazeera---safe-.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&rect=0%2C0%2C1200%2C666&w=1200&h=666)
Government Votes to Shut Down Al Jazeera in Israel
Israel’s cabinet on Sunday, May 5, 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, Prime Minister Benjamin 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.”
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. (JPost / VFI News)
“‘They make ready their tongue like a bow, to shoot lies; it is not by truth that they triumph in the land. They go from one sin to another; they do not acknowledge Me,’ declares the Lord.” - Jeremiah 9:3