Good morning,
That’s a very good question. This decision had been in the air, without being executed, for weeks. A law called the “Al-Jazeera law”, even if it did not name the channel, was passed by a very large majority by the Knesset on April 1. Its aim is to stop the broadcasting in Israel of any foreign media that would be considered to undermine the security of the State. It was Al-Jazeera that was targeted. Its coverage of the war in the Gaza Strip, where it is the only international media to be present, and in the Palestinian territories, has for years been the main element of conflict
But this is a first in the history of the Jewish state and very bad news for press freedom. Israel joins authoritarian regimes which limit press freedom, including Arab autocracies which have attacked this channel.
But we can’t help but wonder about the sense of timing. Why now ? It is also undoubtedly a question of putting pressure on Qatar, owner of the channel. Israel and Hamas appeared close to an agreement for a cessation of hostilities and the release of hostages a few days ago, but Netanyahu’s declarations announcing his intention to invade the town of Rafah, whatever the outcome , led Hamas to toughen its demands to ensure that Israeli forces would not enter the city. We can read the decision to close the Qatari channel as a means of putting pressure on Qatar, which is the main mediating country in these negotiations, to end this mediation or put pressure on Hamas.