
Following the Cabinet's unanimous decision to close the Al Jazeera channel in Israel, police raided the offices of the Qatari-government-funded news organization at Jerusalem's Ambassador Hotel this afternoon (Sunday).
Last week, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara gave the green light to bring to a vote the issue of closing Al Jazeera's channels in Israel.
The decrees brought for approval are instructions to stop broadcasting the channel in Arabic and English through content providers in Israel, closing offices, and blocking access to websites. In addition, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi ordered the seizure of the network's broadcasting equipment.
The opinion of Attorney General Baharav-Miara, which was passed to the legal consultation of the Ministry of Communications, is that there is a significant legal difficulty in signing the decree without giving the channel a right to a hearing before signing the decree.
However, according to the report, she will not claim that there is a legal impediment to signing the decrees, even without the right to a hearing.
Following Sunday's vote, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated, "The government under my leadership has decided unanimously: The Al Jazeera incitement channel will be closed in Israel. Thank you to Minister Shlomo Karhi."