Israeli police raid Al Jazeera after shutdown order

Earlier the Communications minister signs order to close Al Jazeera’s operations in Israel

TEL AVIV:

Israeli police raided a Jerusalem hotel room used by Al Jazeera as its de facto office on Sunday following a government decision to shut down the Qatari-owned TV station's local operations, an Israeli official and an Al Jazeera source told Reuters.

Video circulated online showed plainclothes officers dismantling camera equipment in a hotel room. The Al Jazeera source said the hotel was in East Jerusalem.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet shut down the network for as long as the war in Gaza continues, on the grounds the Qatari television network threatens national security.

Al Jazeera called the move a "criminal action" and rejected the accusation the network threatened Israeli security as a "dangerous and ridiculous lie" that puts its journalists at risk.

It said that it reserved the right to "pursue every legal step”.

The network has been critical of Israel's military operation in Gaza, from where it has reported around the clock throughout the war.

"The incitement channel Al Jazeera will be closed in Israel," Netanyahu posted on social media following the unanimous cabinet vote.

A government statement said Israel's communications minister signed orders to "act immediately", but at least one lawmaker who supported the closure said Al Jazeera could still try to block it in court.

Earlier ,The Israeli government on Sunday voted unanimously to shut down the bureau of the Qatar-owned Al Jazeera television as Anadolu Agency reported 

Last month, Israel’s Knesset (parliament) passed legislation allowing the closure of the Al Jazeera television.

Under the legislation, the communications minister is empowered to shut down foreign networks operating in Israel and confiscate their equipment if the defense minister identifies that their broadcast poses “an actual harm to the state’s security.”

Read: Israel and the western media

“Our orders will go into effect immediately,” Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said after signing an orde to close the channel.

“Too much time has passed and there have been too many unnecessary legal hurdles in order to finally stop the well-oiled incitement machine of Al Jazeera, which harms the security of the state.”

Al Jazeera has an office in Israel and a team of correspondents working year-round, including covering Israel’s ongoing war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed over 34,600 people since Oct. 7, 2023.