Jerusalem, 06 May 2024 (Anadolu)

Israeli authorities raided the offices of Qatar-owned Al Jazeera television in Jerusalem and confiscated its equipment on Sunday, shortly after a government decision to shut down the broadcaster.

“Our inspectors, supported by the police, raided Al Jazeera offices in Jerusalem and confiscated its equipment,” far-right Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said on his X account.

Video footage released by Karhi's office showed Israeli officials entering the office and documenting the equipment inside.

According to The Times of Israel newspaper, the news channel was pulled off the air in the country and is no longer available on its two biggest TV providers Yes and Hot.

​​​​​​​Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said early Sunday that his government has decided to close Al Jazeera’s operations in Israel. 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.”

The Doha-based television denounced the Israeli government's decision to close its offices as a “criminal act.” “Ironically as the world marked World Press Freedom Day; the Israeli government closed Al Jazeera’s offices, preventing the public from accessing its content, disregarding the universally recognized fundamentals of freedom of expression,” it said in a statement.

​​​​​​​The pan-Arab television vowed to pursue all available legal channels through international legal institutions to protect both its rights and journalists, as well as the public’s right to information.

“Al Jazeera urges all media freedom, human rights, and other concerned organizations, to condemn the repeated attacks on journalists and the press by Israel, and to hold those responsible to account,” it added.

Al Jazeera, which broadcasts in both Arabic and English, 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.

Al Jazeera Media Network strongly condemned and denounced this criminal act that violates human rights and the basic right to access of information. Al Jazeera affirms its right to continue to provide news and information to its global audiences,” the network said in a statement on Sunday.

An Israeli human rights organization on Sunday criticized a decision by Tel Aviv to shut down Al Jazeera television.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) said in a statement that the group had petitioned the country's supreme court, seeking an interim ruling to reverse the decision.

Dismissing claims that the move was meant to alleviate security concerns, the ACRI said it was driven by political motivations to silence dissent amid the ongoing war in Gaza and target Arabic media.

The Foreign Press Association (FPA), which represents foreign media in Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, has condemned a decision by the Israeli government to close Al Jazeera television.