Israel is to close al-Jazeera's Jerusalem bureau after accusing the Qatar.based channel of of supporting terrorism
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Israel is seeking to close Al Jazeera’s bureau in Jerusalem and revoke its journalists media credentials.
It also intends to pull the Qatar-based stations broadcasts from local cable and satellite providers.
Communications Minister Ayoub Kara accused the channel of supporting terrorism and said the measures were aimed at bolstering Israel’s security.
“Lately, almost all countries in our region have determined that Al Jazeera supports terrorism – supports religious radicalisation. Gulf States, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt. We also intend to join them at a summit focused on regional, political, economic and even defence agreements.”
Self-declared “only democracy in the Middle East” closes #AlJazeera Arabic and
AJEnglish</a> offices. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Israel?src=hash">#Israel</a> <a href="https://t.co/y9KijEyyIN">https://t.co/y9KijEyyIN</a> <a href="https://t.co/FOZvEfRewY">pic.twitter.com/FOZvEfRewY</a></p>— Bob Deed (BobDeed) August 6, 2017
The move to expel Al-Jazeera was first voiced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, two weeks ago when he accused the channel of fueling the violence in Jerusalem at an Old City site which is holy to both Jews and Muslims.
Al-Jazeera has come under attack from several governments in the region to the concern of free press campaigners.
Israel’s move to close
AlJazeera</a>'s Jerusalem bureau is unacceptable.<br><br>Please use your voice to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DemandPressFreedom?src=hash">#DemandPressFreedom</a> <a href="https://t.co/dPEHWCyAsL">pic.twitter.com/dPEHWCyAsL</a></p>— Kamahl Santamaria (KamahlAJE) August 6, 2017