The showdown continues between Benjamin Netanyahu and the Arab television channel. The subject of the dispute? While the Israeli army has repeatedly claimed that Al-Jazeera journalists were “terrorist agents” affiliated with the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, the media fiercely denies these accusations. For its part, it accuses Israel of systematically targeting its employees in the Gaza Strip. Back to this dispute.
Act I: Israeli army accuses journalist injured in Gaza of being a member of Hamas
The Israeli army accuses, Wednesday February 14, an Al-Jazeera journalist, injured during an Israeli strike in Gaza, of being a Hamas activist, and of even having filmed himself in a kibbutz attacked on October 7 . Ismail Abou Omar “is the deputy commander of a company in Hamas’s eastern battalion in Khan Yunis.
Abu Omar even filmed himself at Kibbutz Nir Oz during the October 7 massacre and published (his video) on social networks,” the IDF said in a statement. The kibbutz, on the edge of the Gaza Strip, was the scene of one of the worst massacres perpetrated by Hamas that day.
Act II: Al-Jazeera channel rejects Israeli accusations
The next day, the Qatari media, Al-Jazeera, rejected the Israeli army’s accusations. “The channel condemns the accusations against its journalists and recalls Israel’s long history of lies and fabrication of evidence through which it seeks to hide its heinous crimes,” Al-Jazeera wrote in a statement.
According to this television, its correspondent Ismaïl Abou Omar and his cameraman Ahmed Matar were injured Tuesday by an Israeli strike in the sector of Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip. In its statement, Al-Jazeera emphasizes that its “employment policy stipulates that employees must not have any political affiliation that could affect their professionalism.”
Act III: The Knesset passes a law banning the broadcast of Al-Jazeera.
Monday, April 1, the Knesset – the Israeli Parliament – approves a law to prohibit the broadcasting in Israel of foreign media that undermines state security. Objective behind this text: target the Qatari channel. This law approved according to an accelerated procedure and by a very large majority by the deputies (70 for, 10 against) gives the Prime Minister the possibility of prohibiting the broadcast of content from the targeted channel but also of closing its offices in Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announces that he wants to “act immediately” to ban the broadcast of the Qatari channel in Israel, after Parliament voted for a law authorizing it to do so. “The terrorist channel Al-Jazeera will no longer broadcast from Israel. I intend to act immediately in accordance with the new law to stop the channel’s activities,” declared Benjamin Netanyahu on the social network
Act IV: The television channel reacts to the attacks
The Qatari television channel Al-Jazeera denounced, Monday April 2, its possible ban on broadcasting by Israel, describing the Israeli Prime Minister’s comments as a “dangerous and ridiculous lie.”
Al-Jazeera criticizes a “frantic campaign” against him launched by Benjamin Netanyahu who accuses him of “harming the security of Israel” and of having “actively participated in the attack of October 7”, according to a channel press release. “The Al-Jazeera network condemns these statements and sees them as nothing more than a dangerous and ridiculous lie.”
Act V: Hamas accuses Israel of “hiding the truth”
In the process, Hamas gets involved. In a press release, he denounced Israel’s resolution “which desperately seeks to obscure the truth about its heinous crimes, which shame humanity, and which the entire world has witnessed through the screens of Al-Jazeera and free media. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) adds on X that it is “deeply concerned by the new legislation authorizing the Netanyahu government to close Al-Jazeera in Israel.” “This contributes to a climate of self-censorship and hostility toward the press, a trend that has intensified since the start of the war,” CPJ says.
Al-Jazeera’s bureau chief in the Palestinian territory, Wael al-Dahdouh, was injured by an Israeli strike in December that killed the Qatar-based channel’s cameraman. This country is also the place of residence of Hamas leader Ismaïl Haniyeh.
Act VI: Washington reacts
The White House breaks its silence and considers “concerning” a possible ban in Israel on the broadcast of the Al-Jazeera channel, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to implement “immediately”.
“I will refer you to Israel on what they are planning to do but […] if it is true, such a decision would be worrying,” reacts the spokesperson for the American executive Karine Jean-Pierre, adding: “We believe in freedom of the press.”