The Israeli government’s decision to expel Al Jazeera from Israel says more about the government than the television network. Although Al Jazeera’s Arabic programming may often be biased and anti-Israel, shutting it down would be a serious threat to Israel as a democratic state in a region populated primarily by authoritarian or hereditary rulers. This will further damage its proud image. And it can also backfire.
Silencing the press, no matter how divisive and hostile, is a trademark of strongman rule. This is a way of declaring that information is the monopoly of the rulers, a favorite populist tactic for directing public anger in moments of national crisis. Al-Jazeera has come under frequent attack from Arab countries, including Egypt and Gulf states, and its leaders have suppressed Al-Jazeera’s reporting, particularly during the Arab Spring, when it provided extensive coverage of anti-government movements.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Al Jazeera of serving as a megaphone for Hamas and posing a national security threat. But if the network was hostile to the message of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government, it was also one of the few international networks reporting from within the Gaza Strip, where foreign media are banned by Israel. One of the many Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza was Hamza al-Dahadou, the son of Al-Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief, Wael al-Dahadou, who was killed at the beginning of the war by another son and his wife. , a daughter, and an infant grandson.
Founded in 1996, Al Jazeera is the most popular news source for many countries in the Arab world. (A separate English-language service was established in 2003.) From a purely tactical point of view, having an Al Jazeera bureau in Israel would allow the Israelis to get their message across to the Arab world; It became more advantageous than closing down. Over the years, many Israeli officials have been interviewed on Al Jazeera, and during the current war, an Arabic-language spokesperson for the Israeli military appeared on Al Jazeera.
That connection will be especially important now that Israel and Hamas are talking about a ceasefire. Netanyahu was no doubt aware that Qatar-based Al Jazeera’s influence would make it crucial to the Arab world’s acceptance of the deal. The timing of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s decision could mark “a new attempt to block the deal” in which Qatar is a key facilitator, according to Israeli daily Haaretz.