The Israeli government is set to sanction left-wing daily Haaretz for articles that “hurt” the state. On Sunday, a proposal to ban state-run funding bodies from communicating or placing advertisements with the newspaper was approved.
Shlomo Karhi, the communications minister, said in a statement that his proposal against Haaretz was unanimously approved by the other ministers.
“We will not allow a reality in which the publisher of an official newspaper in the state of Israel will call for the imposition of sanctions against it and will support the enemies of the state in the midst of a war and will be financed by it,” the statement said.
“We advocate a free press and freedom of expression, but also the freedom of the government to decide not to fund incitement against the state of Israel.”
The proposal to boycott the outlet, which was added to the cabinet meeting agenda at the last minute, was endorsed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to Haaretz.
Haaretz, founded in 1918, is the longest-running newspaper in the country. It has published a slew of reports on alleged criminal activity by senior Israeli officials and the armed forces, and has long had strained relations with the government. The outlet has also been calling for an end to the Gaza war and the release of hostages seized by Hamas.
The Israeli government explained that its decision was a reaction to “many editorials that have hurt the legitimacy of the state of Israel and its right to self-defense, and particularly the remarks made in London by Haaretz publisher, Amos Schocken, that support terrorism and call for imposing sanctions on the government,” the outlet wrote on Sunday.
In a speech at a conference in London last month, Schocken accused the Israeli government of a “cruel apartheid regime on the Palestinian population.” He later clarified his remarks, explaining that he did not consider Hamas to be “freedom fighters.”
In response to the resolution, which has reportedly been passed by the ministers without any legal review, Haaretz accused Netanyahu of seeking to “dismantle Israeli democracy” and said the decision to boycott the outlet was “opportunist.”
The move is the latest instance of Israel’s clamp-down on the media amid the conflict in Gaza.
In April, the Israeli parliament approved a law allowing the temporary closure of foreign networks deemed a threat to national security. In May, the government banned Al Jazeera from operating inside Israel and closed its bureau in the country, accusing the Qatari TV network of helping the Palestinian militant group Hamas.