Qatar has been undergoing an illegal siege by neighbouring GCC countries and one of their main demands has been the shutting down of Al Jazeera channel. However, Qatar has put its foot down on the demands, saying shutting down of the channel was off the tables.

It now appears as if Israel is going to follow the blockading nations’ agenda and close down the media channel’s operations in Jerusalem. The Israeli Communications Minister Ayoob Kara said they were planning to revoke media credentials of Al Jazeera TV journalists, close its Jerusalem bureau and pull the Qatar-based station’s broadcasts from local cable and satellite providers, according to Gulf Times.

The closure did not appear imminent, however, and an Israeli official said a legal process was still required to implement most of the proposed steps.

Al Jazeera Media Network denounced the move and said it would pursue the matter through legal channels, according to The Peninsula.

Al Jazeera denounced the decision made by a state that claims to be ‘the only democratic state in the Middle East.’ It also found the justifications made by the minister of communications as odd and biased and in unison with the actions carried out by a number of Arab countries that have closed the network’s bureaus, shut down its cable and satellite transmissions, and blocked its websites and applications.

Kara had accused the network of inciting violence and presenting unprofessional journalism. He requested relevant authorities to act upon this decision and carry out the necessary measures to put it into effect, but did not set a date for implementing the decision.

Al Jazeera said that Israel’s decision comes in the context of a campaign that was initiated by a statement made earlier by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which he accused Al Jazeera of inciting violence during its coverage of the  Al Aqsa Mosque.

Other Israeli ministers and officials had previously made similar statements following a break into Al Jazeera bureau by a number of settlers.

“We’ve based our decision on the move by Sunni Arab states to close the Al Jazeera offices and prohibiting their work,” Kara said, according to Qatar Tribune. He added that the channel is being used by groups to ‘incite violence.’

“I’ll go through the legislatory mechanism to create the authority in which I can act freely. We’ll try to end it as quickly as possible,” he said during a Press conference which Al Jazeera was banned from attending.