The law, which was voted through on Monday, allows the prime minister or the communications minister to take decisions to shut down foreign news channels if they are believed to pose a “real risk to the country’s security”.
The media can be shut down for 45 days and then the decision will be reconsidered. The law will apply until the end of July or until “major military operations in Gaza end”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously said that he will shut down the “terror channel” Al Jazeera if the law is voted through.
The White House reacts
American White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre has said that the information about shutting down Al Jazeera is “disturbing”.
Swedish Reporters Without Borders chairman Erik Larsson speaks Echo that “it risks being a step on the way to abolishing democracy”.
– When you start using the legislation to silence individual media that report, it becomes difficult to draw a line for when to stop, he says.
Hear more about why the Knesset voted through the law and how it may affect reporting in the video above.