These measures include the so-called Al Jazeera law, which allows the government to shut down foreign media outlets on national security grounds. On Tuesday, the Israeli parliament approved a two-year extension of legislation introduced to essentially halt Al Jazeera’s operations in Israel during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
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Separately, the government is also moving to shut down the popular Army Radio Network, one of two publicly funded Israeli news outlets. The radio station is often criticized by the Israeli right wing, who consider Army Radio to be biased towards it.
Israelis still rely on getting news from traditional outlets, with about half relying on broadcast news and about a third on radio stations for current affairs information.
The tone of the media that is allowed to publish and broadcast is important. According to analysts inside Israel, the selective broadcast of Palestinian suffering during Israel’s war on Gaza has helped perpetuate the genocide and strengthened the sense of grievance that allows Israel to carry out frequent attacks on Gaza as well as regional countries such as Syria, Yemen and Lebanon.
Despite what observers have seen as the media environment firmly in its favor, the far-right government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which includes ministers convicted of “terrorism” crimes and others who have repeatedly called for the illegal annexation of the occupied West Bank, is still trying to circumvent legal checks on its control over the media and bring most of Israel’s information feeds under its control.
let’s take a closer look.
Because the government believes that it is very serious.
Israeli politicians have long complained about how the war in Gaza has been covered in both international and domestic media.
But the government added a new charge in November, blaming the media in part for the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, while introducing a bill to increase government control over the news environment, said, referring to Israeli government efforts to undermine the independence of the judiciary, “If the media had not been mobilized to encourage outright refusal (to volunteer for duty) and reckless opposition to judicial reform, there would not have been such a rift in the nation, allowing the enemy to take advantage of the opportunity.”,
In addition to the ‘Al Jazeera law’, three items of legislation are underway: a plan to privatize Israel’s public broadcaster, KAN, a move to dismantle Army Radio, and an initiative to bring the media regulator under government control.
Both Army Radio and Kan, another state-funded outlet with editorial independence, have produced numerous reports critical of the government.
This week, Kahn aired an interview with Netanyahu’s former spokesman Eli Feldstein, who told the broadcaster that the prime minister had instructed him to develop a strategy to help him avoid responsibility for the October 7 attacks.
Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Monday justified the move to shut down Army Radio, saying the outlet had become a platform to attack the Israeli army and its soldiers.
Israel is also potentially changing the way it controls its media. In November, the Israeli parliament advanced a bill that would abolish existing media regulators and replace them with a new government-appointed authority, potentially allowing even greater state intervention.
Finally, Israel has also codified into law emergency legislation banning foreign media outlets whose output it disagrees with. It was first enacted as emergency legislation in May 2024 when Israel used it to ban Al Jazeera from its territory, and then in the same month it was used to block the activity of the Associated Press after the government accused the United States-based news agency of sharing footage with Al Jazeera.
Under the new law, the communications minister – with the signature of the prime minister and the support of a ministerial committee – can block a foreign broadcaster’s broadcasts if the prime minister accepts a professional assessment that the outlet poses a security threat. Ministers can also close the broadcaster’s offices, seize the equipment used to produce its content and block access to its website.
Has this move been criticized?
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the United Kingdom’s National Union of Journalists have criticized Israel’s decision to legislate against foreign media platforms, considering it a security threat.
In a statement, IFJ Secretary General Anthony Belanger said: “Israel is openly fighting against local and foreign media outlets that are critical of the government: this is typical behavior of an authoritarian regime. We are deeply concerned about the Israeli parliament passing this controversial bill, as it would be a serious blow to free speech and freedom of the media, and a direct attack on the public’s right to know.”
The effort to shut down Army Radio has also been heavily criticized, with Israeli Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara declaring the move illegal and accusing Netanyahu’s coalition of “weakening, intimidating and institutionally silencing public broadcasting and shrouding its future in fog”.
Baharao-Miara has also criticized the move to place media regulation under government control, saying the bill “endangers the principle of freedom of the press”.
Not very much.
The Israeli media continues to hail the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza, where more than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel, and in the occupied West Bank.
The suffering of Palestinians is rarely shown, and when it is, it is often justified.
Even though Israel has killed more than 270 journalists and media workers in Gaza, Israeli media have provided cover for the actions of its government and military.
This means that Israelis often do not recognize the hypocrisy of their government’s statements.
One example came in June when Iran attacked an evacuated hospital during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran. The Israeli government called the incident a war crime, and Israeli media reflected that outrage.
But the attack came as many organizations, including the United Nations, accused Israel of systematically dismantling Gaza’s health care system, with medical workers targeted for arrest and often tortured despite their protection under international law.
“The Israeli media… consider their job not to educate but to shape and mold a public ready to support war and aggression,” journalist Orly Noye told Al Jazeera from West Jerusalem in the wake of the attack on an Israeli medical center. “It really sees itself as having a special role in this.”
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