Israeli PM Netanyahu calls for Knesset to pass law allowing closure of foreign news networks

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called on Knesset, reviving a push to pass legislation allowing the country's government to shut down foreign news networks, according to The Times of Israel.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for Knesset to pass the legislation allowing his government to shut down foreign news networks, according to The Times of Israel. Netanyahu has promised to "immediately act to close Al Jazeera" after the law is passed.

Netanyahu's Likud party released a statement claiming that the prime minister asked coalition whip Ofir Katz to make sure the bill passed both its second and third readings today, reported the Times of Israel. If the law is approved, the prime minister and the minister of communications will have the power to declare international networks functioning in Israel to be in danger of closing and seizing their equipment, if they are deemed to be posing "an actual harm to the state's security."

After a lengthy discussion in the Knesset National Security Committee, the legislation was authorised for its second and third readings after passing its first reading in the plenary of the Knesset in February. Netanyahu had hernia surgery last night, and he is currently in the hospital.

Following surgery to treat Hernia, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in "excellent" condition, according to a statement issued on Sunday by Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem in Jerusalem, reported CNN. Netanyahu is "awake, he is talking to his family, and his situation is perfect," according to hospital general surgery director Alon Pikarsky, who made the announcement in an early morning video on Monday.

The procedure "ended successfully," the hospital director said. During a regular examination on Saturday, Netanyahu, 74, was found to have a hernia, as his office had previously stated in a statement. According to his office, he was put under anaesthesia for the surgery. (ANI)

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