Palestinian Articles: Al-Jazeera Is A Hamas Mouthpiece That Spreads The Movement's Lies

The war in the Gaza Strip provided numerous indications that the editorial policy of Qatar's Al-Jazeera Network is dictated by the Qatari regime in accordance with its interests, and that the network serves as a mouthpiece for Qatar's ally and protégé, Hamas.[1] It is this biased coverage that eventually prompted Hamas' rival, the Palestinian Authority (PA), to suspend Al-Jazeera's operations in the West Bank.[2] Against this backdrop, two articles were recently published that criticized the narrative presented by Al-Jazeera about the Gaza war. One of them, an editorial of the PA mouthpiece Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, slams the channel for its insistence on presenting the ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel as a Hamas 'victory,' and claims that Al-Jazeera is committing a crime by promoting a populist 'discourse of deception' that ignores the heavy price paid by the Gazans in the war.

Al-Jazeera logo

The second article, published by Palestinian journalist Fadel Al-Manasfeh  in the London-based daily Al-Arab, analyzes an Al-Jazeera documentary about Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel, and shows that it was selective in its presentation of the facts and made claims that are blatantly false. For instance, it denied Hamas' targeting of Israeli civilians during the attack, and avoided criticizing it for the price paid by the Gazans in the war.

The following are translated excerpts from these articles.

PA Daily: Al-Jazeera Promotes A Criminal Discourse Of Deception About A Hamas 'Victory' In The War

The February 2, 2025 editorial of the PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida lambasted Hamas for the boastful displays that accompany its release of the Israeli hostages,[3] adding that it could have released them at the beginning of the war and thereby avoided the death toll and the destruction in Gaza. In this context, it also criticized Al-Jazeera for insisting on glorifying Hamas and claiming that it won the war.

Al-Hayat Al-Jadida logo

The editorial stated: "When they were transferred [to Israel], the Israeli hostages held by Hamas and the [Palestinian] Islamic Jihad were impeccably dressed. This, like the populist displays [that accompanied their release], was intended to convey a message from Hamas to Isael, namely that [Hamas] heeded the voice of wisdom [and the principles of] religious duty, moral virtue and [proper] behavior, and is now handing over the hostages in good health and even bearing gifts!

"Al-Jazeera and its correspondents [in Gaza], equipped with instructions from the channel's management to use verbal tricks and deceptive words, praised Hamas [and claimed that] its toughness and skill in the negotiations yielded the ceasefire agreement – which does not end the war – and that this is a victory that cannot be questioned. These [correspondents] keep parroting the same deceptions, with pathetic fervor… and it seems that they do not know any other words…

"Was it not possible to return the hostages in the first week of Israel's war on the [Gaza] Strip, after its barbaric aggression became apparent? Then we would have lost [only] the several thousand people [who were killed during] that week, and several hundred homes and buildings! Why did Hamas maintain its stubbornness and denial [of the facts] for 15 months, until thousands of Gazan hearts exploded[?]…

"Al-Jazeera applauds the victory that has not liberated Palestine, Al-Aqsa or even the [Gaza] Strip… History will determine the character of and the truth about this crime of [spreading] a discourse of deception, which Al-Jazeera keeps perpetrating without hesitation or shame…"[4]

Palestinian Journalist: Al-Jazeera Engages In Propaganda, Not In Objective Reporting

The article by Fadel Al-Manasfeh, published in the Al-Arab daily, dealt with an episode of Al-Jazeera's investigative documentary series "The Tip of the Iceberg" about Hamas' October 7 attack, which Hamas calls Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. Al-Manasfeh  argued that the episode presented a pro-Hamas narrative that focused on the military aspects of Hamas' surprise attack, and did not ask the pointed questions that must be presented to Hamas about its decision to carry out this attack, especially about the price paid by the Gazans. He also criticized the show for concealing the truth about Hamas' targeting of civilians on October 7.   

Fadel Al-Manasfeh (Image: Al-Arab, London)

He wrote: "Al-Jazeera has long been an outstanding media platform with tremendous financial and human capabilities that has spearheaded the Arab media and played a central role in shaping Arab public opinion. It has done so by documenting the most prominent events in modern history, [and] by following the Palestinian-Israeli conflict with direct coverage and with analysis of the implications of [each] specific event, as well as by means of written or filmed media reports. However, this media excellence does not necessarily absolve this outlet from criticism, especially if it adopts the motto of 'The Opinion and the Other Opinion.' In addition, the more this media platform gained importance and influence, the more important it became to hold it to account and analyze its discourse, so we can filter the content and [determine] the quality of the reports that we are consuming.

"In the episode titled 'Secrets of the Flood,' which continues to garner ever-higher ratings, [Al-Jazeera's investigative series] 'The Tip of the Iceberg' focused almost exclusively on the narrative of Hamas' success at overcoming the Israeli security forces… The absence of a balanced analysis undermines the credibility of the thesis presented, and turns it into one that addresses [only] an emotionally-biased audience that is prepared to consume anything with no need for analysis or debate.

"The episode featured exclusive and exciting images, photos and facts that increased its popularity, but it was missing the most important factor in journalism, which is objectivity. To the episode's credit, it [cited] internal Israeli sources that view the matter from the perspective the program tried to promote. But the failure to objectively present a counter-narrative makes it closer to what can be called a 'military documentary' or, if I may use this term, closer to propaganda than to a documentation of a momentous event in the history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

"An important angle that was concealed in this program was the human aspect of the event, for the episode… did not seriously discuss the high price paid by the residents of Gaza as a result of the violent Israeli attack. The [Israeli] operation caused extensive destruction and an enormous number of civilian casualties, which compels [us] to ask Hamas' leadership about the plan [it prepared] to protect the civilians, and about the extent to which it anticipated [the intensity of] the Israeli escalation and considered the dire social and economic conditions of the Gaza Strip residents, [conditions] that supposedly constitute indirect justification for [Hamas'] military decision to achieve a moral victory that involved an imbalance between the scope of the risks and the anticipated benefits.

"One of the most blatant problems with the episode was the attempt to deny the accusations about the targeting of [Israeli] civilians during the [October 7] attack. The episode presented a statement from one of the fighters who participated in the attack, who said that it was the Israeli Air Force that bombed the settlements [i.e., the Israeli localities on the Gaza border] as part of its attempt to stop the attack with no consideration for the safety of the Israeli civilians in the area. This claim contradicts the videos that were circulated during the early days after the attack, which showed indiscriminate shooting [by Hamas] during some of the raids, as well as the official statements from [Hamas military spokesman] Abu Obeida, especially the one in which he threatened that the Israeli prisoners would be executed if the bombing of Gaza continued. This raises doubts regarding the accuracy of the narrative presented [in the show]. Furthermore, the episode ignored the independent evidence about the attack on the [Nova music] festival at Re'im, in which more than 260 civilians were killed, which clearly indicates a selective presentation of information that makes [the show] closer to propaganda than to authentic investigative journalism…

"In wars of the magnitude of the recent Gaza war, it is difficult for the media to maintain its traditional role as a platform for neutral reports, especially when the coverage becomes a weapon in a war of narratives. This is what happened to the Al-Jazeera channel, which focused on highlighting the military success of the Al-Aqsa Flood operation and did not allow for an objective discussion of essential questions that must be asked about an event of this magnitude and this scope, such as: Did Hamas err by underestimating the extent of the Israeli response and leaving the defense of the civilians in the hands of elements that had not proved their effectiveness in previous confrontations? What did the Al-Aqsa Flood operation achieve in terms of profit and loss? The absence of such questions from the coverage means that the picture presented was incomplete."[5]