Knesset extends authorities’ power to ban broadcasts deemed harmful to security |
The Knesset announced on Tuesday the extension of a law allowing authorities to ban any foreign media deemed harmful to state security from broadcasting in the country.
Adopted in April 2024, at the height of the Israel-Hamas war, the legislation primarily targeted Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera, which Israeli authorities have accused of serving as a propaganda outlet for Palestinian terrorists.
The law was originally limited to the state of emergency declared at the start of the war, which was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught in southern Israel. However, on December 1 this year, the Knesset voted to end that state of emergency.
The amendment passed overnight means the law will remain in force for another two years. The bill, sponsored by Likud MK Ariel Kallner, passed 22-10.
According to a statement on the Knesset’s X account, the amendment “allows, under a temporary provision valid until December 31, 2027, the restriction of broadcasts by foreign media that harm state security.”
The legislation allows such measures even in the absence of a state of emergency.
Under the law, if the prime minister determines that a........