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Netanyahu revives plans to shut down Al Jazeera in Israel
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/1/israeli-pm-netanyahu-revives-push-to-shut-down-al-jazeera
The Israeli prime minister has revived plans to close Al Jazeera in Israel. In a statement issued by the Likud party spokesperson, parliament will be convened in the evening to ratify the law. Following its ratification, Netanyahu “will take immediate action to shut down Al Jazeera in accordance with procedure set out in the law”.
The Israeli leader demanded on Monday that his coalition government pass legislation in the Knesset that would allow senior ministers to shut down foreign news networks deemed a security risk.
Netanyahu, who has long sought to shutter broadcasts from the Qatari-based media outlet, promised to “immediately act to close Al Jazeera” following the law’s adoption, according to a statement from his Likud party.
The bill, passed in a first reading in February, would give the prime minister and the communications minister the authority to order the closure of foreign networks operating in Israel and confiscate their equipment if it is believed that they pose “harm to the state’s security”.
Israeli minister calls for settlements in Gaza
Far-right member of the Israeli cabinet Yitzhak Wasserlauf says the move would mark a “total victory” for Israel.
“A total victory means a return to settle there [in Gaza]. That is [Hamas’s] punishment for what they did on October 7. If we don’t do that, our soldiers would have fallen for nothing,” Wasserlauf, the minister for the development of the Negev and Galilee and for national resilience, told Israel’s Radio North.
The member of the Jewish Power Party also called on the army to launch a ground attack on Rafah. “We must force them [Hamas] into submission to reach total victory,” he said.
“That includes invading Rafah and the dismantling of all Palestinian factions.”
Israel annexes land in occupied West Bank’s Etzion settlement bloc: Report
According to The Times of Israel, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has announced that the Civil Administration, an agency in the Defence Ministry, has declared 170 dunams (17 hectares or 42 acres) as “state land”, meaning it can be used for, among other purposes, settlement development.
Smotrich, who has authority over the Civil Administration, said he has been working on advancing similar declarations of state land in the occupied West Bank over the past year.
Last month, about 8,000 dunams (800 hectares or 1,976 acres) were declared state land in the Jordan Valley, the largest in decades, according to anti-settlement groups.
In February, 2,640 dunams (264 hectares or 650 acres) were declared state land east of Jerusalem, The Times of Israel reported.
Israeli strike on Damascus reported by Syrian and Iranian media
Syrian air defence systems have intercepted “hostile targets” near Damascus, the state news agency reports. The Reuters news agency also cited Iran’s SSN news website as saying Israel targeted Iran’s consulate and ambassador’s residence.
According to Syrian media, the strike took place in the Damascus municipality of Mezzeh.
The Britain-based group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack hit “the building of an annex to the Iranian embassy… in Damascus, killing six people”.
A correspondent from the French news agency AFP, who was at the site, also said the strike had levelled the building next to the embassy in an upscale neighbourhood of Damascus.
