The Israeli government is seeking to close Al Jazeera’s offices in Israel and revoke its journalists’ media credentials.
Communications Minister Ayoub Kara alleged that Al Jazeera supported terrorism, and said both its Arabic and English-language channels would be taken off air.
The channel has condemned the decision.
The government said it was basing its decision on a similar ban by several Sunni Arab states, amid their diplomatic rift with Qatar, which hosts and funds Al Jazeera.
Ayoub Kara said cable TV providers had agreed to take the network off the air, but that closing its Jerusalem bureau would need further legislation.
“Al Jazeera has become the main tool of Daesh [ISIS], Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran,” he told a news conference.
PM Netanyahu tweeted his congratulations to Ayoub Kara, “who on my instructions took concrete steps to end Al Jazeera’s incitement”.
An Al Jazeera official in the Qatari capital Doha told AFP that the channel “deplores this action from a state that is called the only democratic state in the Middle East, and considers what it has done is dangerous”.
Benjamin Netanyahu had accused the pan-Arab TV channel of fuelling a recent crisis around a holy site in Jerusalem known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as the Temple Mount.
New security measures imposed by Israel after two policemen were killed nearby sparked protests by Palestinians, and the Israeli government eventually removed the security apparatus, which included metal detectors.
The prime minister vowed in late July to “expel Al Jazeera” for its reporting of the issue, which he said had incited violence.
The Al Jazeera official defended its coverage, saying it was “professional and objective”.
The network’s editor in Jerusalem has accused PM Netanyahu of collusion with his autocratic Arab neighbors in an attack on free and independent media.
Al Jazeera has come under attack from several governments in the region in recent months to the concern of free press campaigners.
Saudi Arabia and Jordan both shut Al Jazeera offices as a measure against Qatar.
Others, including the UAE and Bahrain, have blocked its channel and websites.
Israel’s communications ministry said on August 6 that “nearly all countries in the region… have concluded that Al Jazeera incites terrorism and religious extremism”.
The ministry added that it had become “ridiculous that the channel continued to broadcast from Israel”.
Shutting Al Jazeera was on a list of 13 demands by the four Arab nations leading a boycott of Qatar that were tabled in June.
The Arabic-language news channel first launched in 1996, and shook up the media landscape in the Middle East by airing criticisms of governments and rulers in the region.
Al Jazeera says it was the first Arabic channel to feature Israeli politicians and commentators on the air.
However, Israel has frequently accused it of being biased in reporting the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
Image source: Wikimedia Commons President-elect Donald Trump celebrated his election victory at the Ultimate Fighting…
Millions of voters across the US chose to return Donald Trump to the White House…
Donald Trump declares victory in the US election as he addresses jubilant supporters in Florida.…
Stocks around the world are rising as Donald Trump appears to be on the cusp…
Donald Trump has won Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia and taken a lead over Kamala…
Quincy Jones, the celebrated musician and producer who worked with Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Ray…
