Cabinet Advances ‘Al Jazeera Law’ to Ban Network After Journalist Exposed as Hamas Commander

By Yoni Weiss

Cabinet ministers unanimously agreed on Monday to push forward a draft bill known as the “Al Jazeera Law,” aiming to prohibit Qatar’s Al Jazeera from broadcasting in Israel.

The decision comes in the wake of revelations on Sunday that one of the network’s journalists, Mohamed Washah, also served as a senior Hamas commander.

Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, exposed Washah’s dual role, revealing his involvement in the anti-tank missile array and later in the research and development of aerial weapons for Hamas.

The proposed law empowers authorities to revoke Al Jazeera’s press credentials and seize its transmitters, citing the foreign entity’s potential harm to Israeli security. In October, Al Jazeera faced accusations of endangering Israeli soldiers, leading to the Cabinet’s approval of emergency regulations to temporarily shut down the network’s operations in Israel, a move that Qatar’s mediation role prevented from implementation during subsequent Israel-Hamas negotiations for a hostage swap.