Nazi regime Threatens to Expel Al-Jazeera After Al-Aqsa Coverage

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to close down the Jerusalem offices of Qatar-based Al-Jazeera news network, accusing them of “inciting violence” through their coverage of Palestinian protests at the al-Aqsa mosque compound.

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He insinuated that he would work to do so even if current Israeli law prevents him out of “legal interpretation.”

“The Al-Jazeera network continues to incite violence over the Temple Mount,” Netanyahu said on his Facebook account.

“I’ve several times appealed to law enforcement agencies demanding to close Al-Jazeera’s office in Jerusalem. If this does not happen due to legal interpretation, I will work to enact the required legislation to expel Al-Jazeera from Israel,” he continued.

Al-Jazeera reporters have consistently been on the ground in the Palestinian protests against Israeli-imposed restrictions on al-Aqsa mosque access. Last week they published a video depicting an Israeli police officer kicking a Palestinian kneeling on a prayer mat.

Israeli officials have alleged that their reporting on the subject is “pure propaganda.”

“Al-Jazeera is not media, it’s not journalism. It’s an incitement machine. It’s pure propaganda, of the worst variety, in the style of Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia,” the Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said, the Times of Israel reported.

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This isn’t the first time the Qatari news-network, which is the largest and most widespread Arab-language agency, has come under political fire from various regional opponents. Recently, a Saudi Arabian-led coalition listed the shutdown of the agency as a prerequisite for the normalization of diplomatic and economic relations, a threat which was later retracted.

However, Saudi Arabia and Jordan have both shut down Al-Jazeera offices in their countries.

Mass waves of protest erupted following the imposition of heightened “security measures” at the entrance to the mosque compound, which is the third holiest Islamic site. After a two-day shut-down of the compound, the Israeli state constructed metal detectors and cameras at the entrances. In a broad rejection of any Israeli imposed authority over the compound, Palestinians refused to enter and have both prayed and protested outside.

Many called the measures an attempt to increase Israeli control over the compound.

While Palestinians have rejected the measures en-masse, a recent poll found that 77 percent of Israelis supported them.