Israeli authorities raided a Jerusalem hotel room used as an office by Al Jazeera on May 5. (File)
Jerusalem:
A ban on Al Jazeera’s operations in Israel was extended for another 45 days by Israel’s telecoms regulator on Sunday after the cabinet agreed that its broadcasts posed a security threat.
A court in Tel Aviv last week upheld an initial 35-day ban on Al Jazeera’s activities in Israel, imposed by the government on national security grounds, ending Saturday.
In a separate ruling on an Al Jazeera petition against the closure, Israel’s Supreme Court described the measure against the Qatar-backed broadcaster as “precedent-setting”.
It gave the Israeli government until August 8 to present arguments for “why the law preventing a foreign broadcaster from harming national security should not be found to be null and void.”
Al Jazeera had told the court that it did not incite violence or terrorism and that the ban was disproportionate, court documents showed. The channel, which has criticized Israel’s military operations in Gaza, was not immediately available for comment.
The network’s broadcasts through cable and satellite companies and access to its websites will remain blocked, Israel’s Communications Ministry said.
“We will not allow the terrorist channel Al Jazeera to broadcast from Israel and endanger our fighters,” Shlomo Karhi said, adding that the law authorized him as Minister of Communications to take such action against foreign broadcasters.
“Given the severity of the damage to the security of the state, I am confident that the closure orders will also be extended in the future,” he said.
Judge Shai Yaniv had said he had received evidence, which he did not specify, of a long-standing and close relationship between the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and Al Jazeera, accusing the channel of promoting Hamas’s goals.
Israeli authorities raided a Jerusalem hotel room used as an office by Al Jazeera on May 5, saying they were halting the operation for the duration of the Gaza war.
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