The National Security Committee yesterday (Tuesday) approved in the second and third reading the extension of the bill to prevent a foreign broadcasting body from harming the state’s security. The proposal gives the Minister of Communications the authority to limit the activity of a foreign channel if he is convinced that its broadcasts harm the security of the state and support terrorism.
The law specifically focuses on the activities of the Al Jazeera channel, which is claimed to have adopted Hamas propaganda and presents terrorist operatives as heroes. In addition, claims were made that the channel’s employees were involved in terrorist activity, including holding hostages.
Shin Bet’s representative on the committee, Itai, supported the law and said: “The terrorist organizations see the network as a propaganda arm that they use on a regular basis. They tend to present the Arab side and broadcast narratives that damage Israel’s international standing and weaken the IDF’s ability to operate in the Strip.” He added that the channel is popular among the Arabs of Israel and East Jerusalem, and its broadcasts radicalize the views of viewers.
The chairman of the committee, Member of Knesset Zvika Fogel, concluded: “There is a tendency to call this law ‘Al Jazeera’ but what happens in the Strip and outside it by journalists who do not belong only to this channel harms the security of the state. We have a moral duty to protect ourselves.”
The law does justice to the balance between state security and freedom of the press and the complexity of dealing with foreign media during war.
