Journalist Haim Etgar confronted the camera crew from the Qatari media network Al Jazeera, when they arrived at the Jaffa Promenade to record an article for the channel.
Etgar turned to the camera crew and questioned: "Why are you still broadcasting here? Why are you still here? You should not be here. Al Jazeera should not be here. Al Jazeera which portrays us as murderers and Hamas as the righteous ones, should not be here. Hamas are heroes? I'm asking! Answer! What's the problem? What's difficult? You're a journalist and you can’t answer simple questions."
He turned to one of the channel's reporters who was present and told him: "Condemn what Hamas did and I will walk away. This is my request from you, from your channel. Say that this act is a criminal murder, that these are war crimes, and I will leave."
Finally, he called out to the reporter: "Sir, we will pass by here again and again and we will find where you are broadcasting from, and until you give us answers or at least stand in front of the camera and say that you are appalled by the criminal acts of the Hamas terrorist organization, which murders women and children, we will continue to haunt you."
Recently, an attempt was made to block Al Jazeera broadcasts in Israel due to concerns that the channel was revealing the location of soldiers, as well as statements by the channel that it is not prepared to condemn the crimes committed by Hamas during the Simchat Torah massacre.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi insisted on this, but in the end an agreement was drawn up according to which: "If the Minister of Defense is convinced that the broadcasts of a foreign channel broadcasting in Israel actually harm the security of the state, the Minister of Communications may, with the consent of the Minister of Defense and with the approval of the Committee of Ministers, order the cessation of broadcasting, the closure of the channel’s offices, the confiscation of broadcasting devices and the removal of a website (providing it is hosted on an Israeli server). All of this, as mentioned, is subject to the fact that the order will be considered within three days - for confirmation, cancellation, or the allocation of time for its applicability - by a district president (or by his deputy)."