Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said he is working to ban the pro-Hezbollah Al Mayadeen TV channel from operating in Israel and is awaiting an opinion from the security establishment. He was responding to Israeli anger after an Al Mayadeen reporter broadcast live from the Majdal Shams soccer field where 12 children were killed in a Hezbollah rocket strike.
Al Mayadeen, a Beirut-based TV station, is a Hezbollah mouthpiece.
“We enacted the regulations in primary legislation. We requested an opinion from security officials as required by law for Al Jazeera, Al Mayadeen and another channel or two,” Karhi said.
“We only received [an opinion] for Al Jazeera, and closed them. Al Mayadeen is still in progress. When the opinions are received, we will immediately act to close them,” he added.
“Allowing a Hezbollah reporter to broadcast from the scene of the massacre that Hezbollah carried out is absurd by any standard,” he said.
Reporting from the soccer field the day after the deadly attack, reporter Hanaa Mahamid, claimed on the air that the children were killed in “an Israeli attack,” and insisted that Majdal Shams residents were skeptical that the rocket had been fired by Hezbollah. Mahamid referred to the area as “the occupied Syrian Golan” and described the town’s mood as “a scene of resistance to the occupation.”
Mahamid is an Israeli-Arab citizen and resident of Tira. It is believed that she broadcasted herself in Majdal Shams through her phone.
This comes against the backdrop of a court ruling that upheld the state’s ban on Al Jazeera.
On Friday, the Tel Aviv District Court accepted the state’s request to ban the Qatari network, saying its broadcasts were “a real violation of state security.”
The ruling said there was sufficient evidence that Al Jazeera’s broadcasts incited terror attacks, including a deadly stabbing attack in Beer-Sheva in March and several others in Jerusalem.
The ruling also cited Al Jazeera’s live feed broadcast from Gaza and an instructional video the network aired explaining how to use a proximity charge to damage a tank.
“This is, therefore, a real danger to the state’s security, although it doesn’t necessarily imply an intent to cause harm on the part of the channel,” the ruling said.
Israel shut down Al Jazeera’s news operations on May 5, revoking the network’s press credentials, confiscating transmitters and blocking its websites. The shutdown is not permanent but is subject to renewal every 45 days. The Knesset is currently advancing legislation that would extend the ban to renewable 90-day intervals.
Efforts to ban Al Jazeera gained momentum in February after reporter Mohamed Washah was exposed as a Hamas commander. Soldiers recovered his laptop in northern Gaza and discovered he played a prominent role in the terror group’s anti-armor missile systems. In October, Al Jazeera was accused of endangering Israeli soldiers by exposing details of where forces were assembling, prompting the Cabinet to approve emergency regulations to temporarily shut down Al Jazeera operations in Israel.
While that move received across-the-board support from the security and diplomatic establishment, it was never implemented as Qatar emerged as a mediator between Israel and Hamas for a hostage swap.
At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 115 remaining hostages, 39 have been declared dead. Hamas has also been holding captive two Israeli civilians since 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014.
