The Knesset this evening (Monday) passed Minister Shlomo Karhi's bill to shutter the Al Jazeera network's offices in Israel.
The law states that if the prime minister is convinced that a foreign news station is harming the country, the Minister of Communications, after receiving at least one security opinion and with the approval of the government or the cabinet, can take action against a foreign channel that acts against the country.
The bill was submitted and passed by the government in February in light of reports that one of the channel's "journalists" was a Hamas commander.
The journalist's Hamas affiliation was revealed after IDF forces in Gaza found his laptop computer in one of Hamas' bases.
The bill was passed in its second and third readings today.
Minister Karhi said in response to the bill's passage, "There will be no freedom of speech for Hamas mouthpieces in Israel. Al Jazeera will be closed in the coming days."
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