A government official announced this morning (Tuesday) that Al Jazeera network in Israel is not facing closure, as reported by Galei Tzahal's Yanir Cozin.
According to the report, the same official stated that Qatari involvement in attempts to release the captives is important, and therefore, the closure of Al Jazeera is not on the table at all. During the past weekend, it was reported that the head of the Mossad, David Barnea, secretly visited Qatar, which operates the Arab network. According to the report, this is evidence of not closing the station.
As reported last week, the issue of closing the station was supposed to be discussed at the request of Minister of Communication Shlomo Karhi during the Cabinet meeting on security and diplomacy. However, according to the report, the Prime Minister prevented the issue from being discussed, thereby preventing the possibility of closing the inciting station during the war. Minister of Communication Karhi's statement was, "We are waiting for the Cabinet's decision."
A political official said in response to the delay that "this is not what is most important in the world right now, they will also always continue to broadcast from the Gaza Strip. There is no basis at this stage for the assessment that their broadcasts allow the location of forces to be transferred to Hamas. In the end it will stand up to a legal test - but the road to there is still long."
