After the government decided to shut down the Qatari-owned TV station’s local activities on Sunday, Israeli officials raided a Jerusalem hotel room that Al Jazeera used as its office, an Israeli official and an Al Jazeera source told British news agency Reuters.
Online footage surfaced of plainclothes officers taking apart camera gear in a hotel room, which the Al Jazeera source claimed to be in East Jerusalem.
The network was shut down by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet on the grounds that national security was at risk, during the duration of the Gaza conflict.
According to Al Jazeera, the conduct constituted a “criminal action” and the claim that the network posed a threat to Israeli security was a “dangerous and ridiculous lie” that put its journalists in danger. The right to “pursue every legal step” was reserved by the network.
The network, which has covered the war from Gaza, has criticized Israel’s military action there.
Netanyahu declared on social media that “the incitement channel Al Jazeera will be closed in Israel” after a unanimous cabinet vote. As per the official statement, the Israeli minister of communications issued orders to “act immediately”. However, a legislator who backed the closure warned Al Jazeera might still attempt to stop it in court.
According to the statement, the action entails shutting down Al Jazeera’s headquarters in Israel, seizing broadcasting equipment, disconnecting the channel from satellite and cable providers, and censoring its websites. The operations of Al Jazeera in Gaza were not mentioned.
