Al-Jazeera offices in Ramallah
Al-Jazeera offices in RamallahFlash 90

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sharply criticized the Al-Jazeera network on Wednesday evening, and declared that he would work to remove it from Israel.

"The Al-Jazeera network does not cease to incite to violence around the Temple Mount. I have appealed to law enforcement agencies several times to close the Al-Jazeera office in Jerusalem. If this is not done due to legal interpretation, I will work to enact the necessary laws to remove Al-Jazeera from Israel," declared Netanyahu.

The Yediot Aharonot newspaper reported last month that Netanyahu is considering closing Al-Jazeera's offices in Israel, and that the government press office, foreign ministry, and defense establishment began work on the matter.

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman later said he backed the move.

"There is no reason for Al-Jazeera to continue to transmit from Israel. It is not media, it is a propaganda outfit in the style of the Soviets or Nazi Germany," he said, adding, "All the reporting on Israel is biased and hostile, while the channel says nothing about Iran."

Most of the network's 34 employees in Israel are Israeli Arabs whose dismissal will likely lead to petitions to the Supreme Court of Justice.

The Qatari-owned Al-Jazeera has come under fire over its support for the Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt has accused Al-Jazeera in general, and its Egypt affiliate, Al-Jazeera Mubasher Misr, in particular, of doing Doha's bidding by serving as Islamists' mouthpiece at a time of a ferocious crackdown on their ranks.

The station denies any bias, saying it is simply covering Islamist protests.

Al-Jazeera has nearly 80 offices around the world and broadcasts in several languages.

Saudi Arabia and Jordan recently shut down the network's operation in their countries as part of a larger campaign of regional Sunni Arab states against Qatar.