Al Jazeera taken off the air in Israel

The decision in the Israeli government was unanimous, says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In April approved The KnessetNational assemblies/parliament in Israel a bill that gives the government the authority to stop Al Jazeera’s broadcasts in Israel.

Benjamin Netanyahu has long promised to take action to shut down Al Jazeera in Israel. The law that was approved then means that both content from foreign TV channels can be banned from broadcasting, but also makes it possible to close Al Jazeera’s offices in Israel.

It’s happening now.

<-Gershon Baskin

The Israeli peace activist Gershon Baskin calls the measure “idiotic”.

– Al Jazeera is the mouthpiece of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, no doubt about it. But it is idiotic to close the canal, because it is in Qatar, and Qatar has long been a negotiator in this war. Now Israel is slamming the door in Qatar’s face, he tells VG from Israel.

Middle East expert Hilde Henriksen Waage also believes this is a mistake by Israel.

– It does not rhyme with the fact that they claim to be the only open democracy in the Middle East. This is a big fall for supposedly democratic Israel. But they do not want the Israeli population to hear alternative voices about the war in Gaza, she tells VG.

Waage is professor of history at the University of Oslo and senior researcher at the Institute for Peace Research (PRIO).

<-Hilde Henriksen Waage

Professor of history (UiO) and senior researcher PRIO.

With al Jazeera taken off the air, it will be even more difficult for Israelis to know what is actually happening on the ground in Gaza, she believes.

– The newspaper Haaretz gives a critical interpretation of the war. But they are read roughly more abroad than in Israel. The other media in Israel give a completely different picture of the war. What is conveyed is that the Israeli military is doing what it can to spare the Palestinian population, and that Israel is misunderstood by the whole world. Al Jazeera’s brutal coverage of the war does not fit into this narrative, she says.

AL JAZEERA: Is a channel that is popular in many countries, especially Arabic-speaking countries. Photo: AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP

Al Jazeera is an Arabic television channel and media house owned by the State of Qatar through the Qatar Media Corporation, and is headquartered in the Qatari capital Doha.

Israel has long accused Al Jazeera of being one-sided and biased, and already ten years ago the then foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman advocated banning the channel from operating in Israel.

Hilde Henriksen Waage believes it is obvious that the channel is impartial.

– They clearly take the side for the Palestinians and against Israel. They have never pretended otherwise. But freedom of the press means that supposedly alternative voices are also allowed to speak, she says.

Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide (Ap) tells VG that he is “very concerned” about the blocking of al Jazeera.

– The world community is completely dependent on the media to get reliable information about the situation. Banning a news medium like Al Jazeera is a direct attack on press freedom, he says.

<-Espen Barth Eide

Minister of Foreign Affairs (AP)

Al Jazeera rejects these accusations in a statement on Sunday, chastising the ban.

– The Netanyahu government has in a misleading and calculated manner approved the order to close Al Jazeera’s offices in Israel, the channel says.

The channel condemns what they refer to as an “Israeli criminal act” that violates the human right of access to information.

A building was hit by several Israeli rockets during Al Jazeera’s live broadcast from Gaza last December:

Important press coverage in Gaza

Al Jazeera has played an important role in the press coverage of the war in the Gaza Strip as it is one of the few media that still has its own journalists and photographers inside the Palestinian area.

Several of the channel’s journalists have been killed and wounded in Israeli attacks. Al Jazeera journalist Wael Dahdouh (53) has lost three children since the war started.