How to shoot yourself in the foot in one easy step

Israel's clueless government shuts down Al Jazeera in the country, accomplishing nothing and giving its haters more ammunition

Like so much of what Israel’s far-right government does – from its authoritarian overhaul effort to rejecting regional peace frameworks – Sunday’s shutdown of Al Jazeera in the country might sound good to some but is upon reflection so foolish that it looks like a conspiracy concocted by its enemies.

Hours after a government decision to proceed with the move, law enforcement officials showed up at Al Jazeera's Jerusalem offices to seize equipment – and the main cable and satellite operators took the channel off the air. This action was enabled by recent law (passed appropriately enough on April Fool’s Day) which allows such action against foreign media deemed harmful to “national security.”

To be clear: the Qatar-based news station offers undeniably unsympathetic coverage of the Gaza War. It is the usual rogues gallery of bad and biased journalism. They rush to report news that casts Israel in a poor light, and do not rush to correct things when they get it wrong. The language used on-air betrays that they really do think there is a genocide going on in Gaza (there isn’t) and they rarely air criticism of Hamas (which actually committed genocide on Oct. 7).

None of this is my cup of key. Hamas is the criminal aggressor in the current war, which is started an unprovoked invasion and a brutal massacre the likes of which have not been experienced by a Western country since World War II – and I agree Al Jazeera causes Israel some harm by promoting a narrative to the contrary (the Arabic station more so than the softer English-language version).

But it is also not quite the two-headed monster some might think. Earlier this year, Israel was accused by the Committee to Protect Journalists of killing more journalists in 2023 (mostly in Gaza) than any country has ever done; I defended Israel against that very charge on Al Jazeera (yes, I have appeared numerous times on this channel, as on others of all political stripe).

I am invited with the clear understanding that I do not share the station’s perspective, and I was allowed to speak live. The interviewers are often somewhat combative, but not unprofessionally so, and I get my points across. Regarding the journalists, these involved the observations that there is a broadening definition of who is a journalist these days, war reporting is dangerous, there is particular density and difficulty in Gaza, and the fact that in my experience the IDF does not, in fact, target journalists (though rogue actions can occur, and of course, more can be done to protect them).

Is Al Jazeera balanced enough to be considered a proper journalistic organization? I don’t know where exactly to draw the line, but one thing is clear: It is more so than Israel’s right-wing Channel 14, where you will not hear opposition voices, and more than US right-wing talk radio as well.

What’s the upside for Israel of the move? Let’s take a look: