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Al Jazeera: Israel seeks to shut offices and take network off air | |
(about 3 hours later) | |
Israel is seeking to close Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera's offices in the country and revoke its journalists' media credentials. | |
Communications Minister Ayoub Kara alleged that the channel supported terrorism, and said both its Arabic and English-language channels would be taken off air. | |
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accuses the broadcaster of "incitement". | |
Al Jazeera has condemned the decision. | |
The Israeli government said it was basing its decision on a similar ban by several Sunni Arab states, amid their diplomatic rift with Qatar, which hosts and funds Al Jazeera. | |
Mr Kara said cable TV providers had agreed to take the network off the air, but that closing its Jerusalem bureau would need further legislation. | Mr Kara said cable TV providers had agreed to take the network off the air, but that closing its Jerusalem bureau would need further legislation. |
"Al Jazeera has become the main tool of Daesh [the Islamic State group], Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran," he told a news conference. | |
Mr Netanyahu tweeted his congratulations to Mr Kara, "who on my instructions took concrete steps to end Al Jazeera's incitement". | |
An Al Jazeera official in the Qatari capital Doha told AFP that the channel "deplores this action from a state that is called the only democratic state in the Middle East, and considers what it has done is dangerous". | |
Mr Netanyahu had accused the pan-Arab TV channel of fuelling a recent crisis around a holy site in Jerusalem known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as the Temple Mount. | |
New security measures imposed by Israel after two policemen were killed nearby sparked protests by Palestinians, and the Israeli government eventually removed the security apparatus, which included metal detectors. | |
The Israeli prime minister vowed in late July to "expel Al Jazeera" for its reporting of the issue, which he said had incited violence. | |
The Al Jazeera official defended its coverage, saying it was "professional and objective". | |
The network's editor in Jerusalem has accused Mr Netanyahu of collusion with his autocratic Arab neighbours in an attack on free and independent media. | |
Al Jazeera hits back at closure calls | Al Jazeera hits back at closure calls |
Al Jazeera has come under attack from several governments in the region in recent months to the concern of free press campaigners. | |
Saudi Arabia and Jordan both shut bureaux of the Qatari-funded broadcaster against the tiny Gulf state. | |
Others, including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, have blocked its channel and websites. | |
Israel's communications ministry said on Sunday that "nearly all countries in the region... have concluded that Al Jazeera incites terrorism and religious extremism". | |
The ministry added that it had become "ridiculous that the channel continued to broadcast from Israel". | |
Shutting the network was on a list of 13 demands by the four Arab nations leading a boycott of Qatar that were tabled in June. | |
The Arabic-language news channel first launched in 1996, and shook up the media landscape in the Middle East by airing criticisms of governments and rulers in the region. | |
Al Jazeera says it was the first Arabic channel to feature Israeli politicians and commentators on the air. | Al Jazeera says it was the first Arabic channel to feature Israeli politicians and commentators on the air. |
Israel has however frequently accused it of being biased in reporting the Israel-Palestinian conflict. | Israel has however frequently accused it of being biased in reporting the Israel-Palestinian conflict. |