Gantz’s National Unity party says supports shuttering Al Jazeera, but timing could harm hostage deal
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Following its ministers’ boycott of today’s cabinet vote on shuttering Al Jazeera’s news network operations in Israel, the National Unity party clarifies that it supports the measure but believes the timing could harm ongoing negotiations to free Israeli hostages in Gaza.
“National Unity’s ministers support the closing of the Al Jazeera channel and even announced that they will vote in favor of closing it at the last cabinet meeting,” the party says in a statement.
“At the request of the security establishment officials, the Mossad chief in particular, and in order not to harm the negotiation efforts, it was decided at that meeting to postpone the vote for a few days. Bringing the issue to a vote this morning at the cabinet meeting is a correct decision at an unfortunate time that may sabotage efforts to reach [a deal] and stems from political considerations.”
According to Hebrew media reports, the chiefs of the Mossad and Shin Bet security agencies last week cautioned that approving the Qatari network’s closure at this time could have negative ramifications for the deal due to Doha’s role in the ongoing talks.
