Israel shuts down 'incitement channel' Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera went off-air in Israel on May 5 after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government decided to shut it down following a long-running feud, a move the Qatar-based channel decried as "criminal."

Netanyahu declared on X that the government had "unanimously decided: the incitement channel Al Jazeera will be closed in Israel".

The government said the order was initially valid for 45 days, with the possibility of an extension.

Hours later, screens carrying Al Jazeera's Arabic and English channels went blank, apart from a message in Hebrew saying they had "been suspended in Israel."

The shutdown does not apply to the Israeli-occupied West Bank or Gaza Strip, from which Al Jazeera still broadcasts live on Israel's war with Hamas.

Al Jazeera condemned Israel's decision as "criminal," charging on X that it "violates the human right to access information".

The Foreign Press Association said shutting down Al Jazeera in Israel was "a dark day for the media [and] a dark day for democracy," and the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate slammed the move as "a war crime."

The decision came after Israel's parliament last month voted overwhelmingly to pass a new national security law granting top ministers the power to ban broadcasts by foreign channels and close their offices if they are deemed a national security threat.

Shortly after the law was passed, Netanyahu singled out Al Jazeera, which bills itself as the "first independent news channel in the Arab world."