By Gatestone Institute | Created at 2025-01-14 10:06:00 | Updated at 2025-01-14 22:49:41
12 hours ago
The Palestinians have finally discovered that Qatar's Al-Jazeera television network -- which has long been serving as a mouthpiece for the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and virtually all other Islamic terrorist groups -- is "broadcasting inciteful content, spreading misinformation, and interfering in internal Palestinian affairs, which [the Palestinian Authority Ministerial Committee] claimed stirred division and instability."
On January 1, the Palestinian Authority (PA) announced the suspension of Al-Jazeera's broadcast operations in the West Bank, ordering the temporary suspension of work by all journalists, staff and associated channels affiliated with Al-Jazeera, adding:
"The decision will remain in effect until the network resolves its legal status, which was deemed in violation of applicable laws and regulations in Palestine.
"The suspension is reportedly temporary and will remain in effect until the network addresses its legal status in accordance with Palestinian regulations."
The PA's decision to freeze Al-Jazeera's broadcast operations came in response to the network's coverage of clashes between PA security forces and Palestinian gunmen in Jenin Refugee Camp in the northern West Bank. The clashes erupted last month after the gunmen, many of whom are affiliated with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, stole two vehicles belonging to the PA.
The incident seriously embarrassed the PA, which ordered its security forces to launch a major security operation against the Iran-backed gunmen in the camp. As part of the crackdown, the PA has cut off water and electricity supplies to the residents of the camp:
"The Jenin Refugee Camp has been under intense pressure for over a month, as residents grapple with the ongoing violent campaign led by the Palestinian Authority (PA) forces. The situation has worsened for the camp's 14,000 residents, who face severe shortages in food, water, electricity, and medical care, as well as significant restrictions on movement."
Since the beginning of the security operation, Al-Jazeera broadcast several reports accusing the PA and its security forces of killing innocent civilians inside Jenin Refugee Camp. Al-Jazeera, in addition, interviewed several Palestinian and Arab political analysts and activists who strongly criticized the PA and accused it of collaboration with Israel. The reports enraged the PA leadership and finally prompted it to ban Al-Jazeera from operating.
"Some media outlets, first and foremost Al-Jazeera, spread lies about the situation in Jenin Refugee Camp," charged Anwar Rajab, spokesperson for the PA security forces. In an implicit reference to Iran, Rajab said:
"Some regional parties are trying to escalate the situation in Palestine through the outlaws [gunmen]. We call on our people to look after the children to prevent them from falling pray to the extremism Islamic State (ISIS) ideology."
Hours before the PA announced the suspension, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate revealed that a number of Palestinian journalists had filed complaints against the TV network for its "non-objective media coverage, which included provocative material and reports that were misleading and incite internal strife." The syndicate added:
"[T]he current editorial policy of Al-Jazeera Network management reflects incitement and spreading discord in Palestinian society... and its coverage of events serves its incitement agenda and ignores journalistic professionalism."
It is hard to say that the Palestinian Authority was surprised by Al-Jazeera's incitement and lack of journalistic professionalism.
For decades, the PA was prepared to tolerate incitement and lack of journalistic professionalism as long as they were directed against Israel. For decades, the PA has been aware that Al-Jazeera serves as a mouthpiece for Qatar, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and other radical Islamic Jihadists in the Middle East, including Al-Qaeda and ISIS.
The PA refrained from taking action against Al-Jazeera, mainly out of fear of facing a backlash from human rights and press-freedom organizations, as well as fear of angering rich and powerful Qatar.
The PA also did not see a need to act against Al-Jazeera so long as the network did not incite against the PA leadership and its security forces.
Al-Jazeera's support for the gunmen in Jenin Refugee Camp and its recurring criticism of the PA over the past month finally convinced the PA leadership that the network poses a threat to PA President Mahmoud Abbas's regime in the West Bank.
According to an investigative report by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI):
"The Al-Jazeera TV network is an arm of the Qatari regime. It is owned by the government and carries out its foreign policy by means of indoctrination of the Arabic-speaking masses worldwide. Al-Jazeera, therefore, should not be discussed as a means of telecommunications, but instead as an unyielding and forceful political tool of Qatari foreign policy under the guise of a mass media network.
"Among the Islamist terrorist organizations that Qatar and Al-Jazeera have supported over the years are the Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Hizbullah, the Al-Nusrah Front/ Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham, ISIS, Hamas, and even the Shiite Iranian proxies in Yemen, Ansar Allah (the Houthis)...
"Al-Jazeera was the prime power for toppling the secular authoritarian regime in Egypt, when Qatar, by means of Al-Jazeera, supported the Muslim Brotherhood in ousting then Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. Al-Jazeera, the single most significant platform for mainstreaming jihadi and Muslim Brotherhood ideology, was the power that accorded [Muslim Brotherhood member] Mohamed Morsi his victory [in Egypt's 2012 presidential election]."
For many years, Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and Chairman of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, a key element of Muslim Brotherhood thought in the Muslim world, was given a weekly hour-long religious program on Al-Jazeera which he used to espouse antisemitic, homophobic and anti-Western views and to praise the Holocaust and promise another one – this time "at the hand of the believers."
According to the MEMRI report, Al-Jazeera's role in providing a platform for promoting extremist Islamist ideologies goes back decades:
"The case of promoting Al-Qaeda is of particular interest. Two months before 9/11, Al-Jazeera gave an Al-Qaeda spokesman, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, free rein to speak uninterrupted for 10 minutes, and to call for 12,000 mujahideen (warriors) to join Al-Qaeda.
"Al-Jazeera employed a correspondent, Tayseer Allouni, who was sentenced in Spain to seven years in prison for transferring funds to Al-Qaeda...
"Al-Jazeera's official role in the current Israel-Hamas war is no where more evident that its exclusive broadcast of Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif on the morning of Saturday, October 7, 2023, at the very time that Hamas terrorists were carrying out their mega-terror attack in Israel, killing over 1,300 and taking more than 250 Israelis and foreign nationals hostage into the Gaza Strip. In the recording, Deif declared the launch of 'Operation Al-Aqsa Flood' and incited all Palestinians to join the war, using all means in their possession – guns, knives, Molotov cocktails, and vehicles."
Since the beginning of the Gaza war, Al-Jazeera has been serving as the semi-official mouthpiece of Hamas. The station regularly broadcasts exclusive footage of terrorist attacks on Israeli soldiers and provides a free platform for the terror group's leaders and spokesmen.
It is no wonder that Israel decided several months ago to shut Al-Jazeera. The Israeli decision was denounced by many governments and human rights organizations, with some dubbing it a "dark day for democracy." Israel closed down Al-Jazeera because the TV network was openly assisting Hamas. Similarly, the Palestinian Authority has banned Al-Jazeera after accusing it of incitement, spreading misinformation, and supporting Iran-backed Islamist armed groups in the West Bank.
Both Israel and the PA understand that Al-Jazeera is not an ordinary media outlet concerned with news and journalistic professionalism. They have both come to the conclusion that Al-Jazeera's goal is to promote radical Islam and terrorism. It now remains to be seen whether the US and other countries will follow suit and stop the Qatari-owned TV station from supporting terrorism, poisoning the hearts and minds of millions worldwide, and ravaging global security.
