THE Israeli Parliament passed a Bill Monday giving top ministers the authority to bar from Israel the broadcasts of news channel Al Jazeera — a step premier Benjamin Netanyahu is poised to take.

This law — which passed by 70 votes to 10 — gives the authority to ban the broadcast of content from foreign channels and also allows the closing of its offices in Israel.

Netanyahu has vowed to take “immediate action” to shut down Al Jazeera in Israel once the law passes.

“The terrorist channel Al Jazeera will no longer broadcast from Israel. I intend to act immediately in accordance with the new law to stop the channel’s activities,” Netanyahu said on X, formerly Twitter.

Israel had claimed in January that an Al Jazeera staff journalist and a freelancer killed in an air strike in Gaza were “terror operatives”.

The following month it said another journalist for the channel, wounded in a separate strike, was a “deputy company commander” with Hamas.

Israeli troops have been fighting against Hamas in Gaza since October.

Al Jazeera has fiercely denied the accusations and accused Israel of systematically targeting its employees in the Gaza Strip.

The Bill permitting officials to stop foreign media deemed to harm national security had already passed its first parliamentary hurdle last month.

Al Jazeera’s bureau chief in the Palestinian territory, Wael al-Dahdouh, was also wounded in an Israeli strike in December that killed the network’s cameraman.

The war between Israel and Hamas began with the militant group’s October 7, 2023 attack that resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 32,845 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.