Israel moves to shut down local operations of Al-Jazeera

Israel accused the station of 'supporting terrorism'.— Reuters picJERUSALEM, Aug 6 — Israel plans to revoke press credentials of Al-Jazeera TV journalists, close their Jerusalem bureau and pull the Qatar-based station's broadcasts from local cable and satellite providers, Communications Minister Ayoub Kara said today. Al Jazeera has become the main tool of Daesh [the Islamic State], Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously accused Al Jazeera of bias and anti-Israeli coverage and threatened to shut down the network, accusing Al-Jazeera of fueling last month’s unrest at a scared site in Jerusalem, the Muslim al-Aqsa mosque, which is located on what Jews call the Temple Mount. Israeli Communications Minister Ayoub Kara accused the Qatari-funded channel of incitement in Israel and moved to revoke Al Jazeera journalists’ press cards, calling broadcasters to take the network off the air. In democratic countries there are also things that are unacceptable, and a lot of what Al Jazeera is saying and broadcasting falls into that category.”

In his news conference, to which Al Jazeera was not invited, Kara said steps had to be taken against “media, which has been determined by almost all Arab countries to actually be a supporter of terror, and we know this for certain.”

“We have identified media outlets that do not serve freedom of speech but endanger the security of Israel’s citizens, and the main instrument has been Al Jazeera,” Kara said. In a statement, the broadcaster said Israel's explanations were "odd and biased as they are in unison with the actions carried out by a number of Arab countries (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Egypt, and Jordan) that have closed the network's bureaus, shut down its cable and satellite transmissions, and blocked its websites and applications."
Israel plans to shut down all of Al Jazeera's operations in the country, alleging support of terrorism.