Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for the Knesset to pass on Monday evening the so-called Al Jazeera law, which would give his government the power to prevent foreign news networks from operating in Israel.

In a statement, Netanyahu’s Likud party said that the prime minister had spoken with coalition whip Ofir Katz to ask him to ensure the bill’s passage in its second and third readings.

Netanyahu promised to “immediately work to close Al Jazeera,” a network funded by the Qatari government, following the law’s passage.

If passed, the bill would give the prime minister and the communications minister the authority to order the closure of foreign networks operating in Israel and confiscate their equipment if it is believed that they pose “an actual harm to state security.”

The legislation passed a first reading in the plenum in February and was approved for its second and third readings following an extended debate in the Knesset National Security Committee.

Netanyahu is currently in the hospital, having undergone hernia surgery last night.

Though Israeli officials have long complained about Al Jazeera’s coverage, which they say is heavily influenced by Hamas and endangers IDF troops in Gaza, in the past they stopped short of taking action, mindful of Qatar’s bankrolling of Palestinian construction projects in the Gaza Strip, which were seen by all sides as a means of staving off conflict.

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi’s office said in October that the drive to shut down Al Jazeera in Israel was based on “proof that it is assisting the enemy, broadcasting propaganda in the service of Hamas, in Arabic and English, to viewers around the world, and even passing sensitive information to the enemy.”

Karhi accused the station of pro-Hamas incitement and exposing Israeli troops to ambushes. Al Jazeera and the Doha government did not respond to those allegations.

In November, however, Israel appeared to spare the Qatari station, instead ordering the shutting down of the local broadcasts of a smaller Lebanese pro-Iranian channel, Al Mayadeen, under emergency media regulations.

Since the war erupted on October 7 with Hamas’s unprecedented attack — in which terrorists murdered some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 253 — Doha has mediated ceasefire talks under which Israel recovered 105 hostages in November.

Negotiations on a second proposed truce that would see the release of additional hostages have yet to come to fruition. In January, Netanyahu publicly called for the Qataris to apply more pressure on Hamas. Qatar hosts the terrorist organization’s political office and several top Hamas officials.

Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.