In his March 11, 2024 column in the Palestinian Authority (PA) daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, journalist Bassem Barhoum wrote that Qatar's Al-Jazeera is a populist media network that peddles illusions to the Arab public and covers events in a slanted manner while expertly advancing its Islamist agenda and the agenda of extremist terror organizations. He stated that, since its establishment in 1996 by Qatar's former Emir, who also funded the network, Al-Jazeera has been supporting the movements of political Islam, chief of them the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), as well as the various terror organizations such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS, by promoting their agenda and providing a platform for their leaders, such as the extremist sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradawi, Osama bin Laden, Ayman Al-Zawahiri and many others. This policy, he added, has contributed to the disintegration of nation-states like Syria, Iraq and Libya and the rise to power of MB parties in the Arab Spring revolutions, although the people of those countries wished to promote democratic and liberal agendas.
In the Palestinian context, Barhoum wrote, Al-Jazeera has deepened the internal schism and strengthened Hamas, and today it is supporting this movement through extensive but deeply biased coverage of the Gaza war, which does not serve the Palestinians at all.
It should be noted that, in July 2023, Barhoum also published an article slamming Al-Jazeera, calling it a "propaganda machine" of the MB whose function is to burnish Hamas' image and promote it as an alternative to the PA.[1]
Bassem Barhoum (Image: Shfanews.net)
The following are translated excerpts from Barhoum's column:[2]
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"I might seem to be rejecting the prevailing [conviction] that Al-Jazeera is a reliable source of information or even the fountain of truth. The reason [for this conviction] is that Al-Jazeera relies on a philosophy that was invented by mankind thousands of years ago, whose purpose is to escape [from reality] into delusion, and then cultivate this delusion and market it in order to take over the mind of the masses and manufacture a legend that appeals to the human mind more than the objective truth. By cultivating this delusion and using a healthy dose of populism, Al-Jazeera promotes the agenda it wants to market, and the truth is that it is very good at this. It has the means, the ability and a professional staff that receives astronomical salaries and bonuses compared to any other channel…
"Al-Jazeera first went on the air on November 1, 1996, and since then it has grown and become a vast media network… It began with [a budget of] $135 million, provided by the previous emir, Hamad bin Khalifa Aal Thani, and today its annual budget is over $1 billion, possibly larger than the budget of the American CNN network, for example. It is essentially an Arabic-language and English-language news channel, but it also has a documentary channel and other channels, as well as the Al-Jazeera website and radio station. [All of these] are widely circulated in cyberspace, and all of them advance the same agenda, although the Arabic channel uses a different style from the English one, which is aimed at world public opinion and tries to seem more objective, or, to be precise, adopts the style of commercial Western media.
"Al-Jazeera's record, in the 30 or so years of its existence, has some positive [aspects], but its activity can be summarized as follows: From the very beginning it has been allied with the movements of political Islam, especially the Muslim Brotherhood, and Sheikh [Yousuf] Al-Qaradawi was one of its greatest stars. As part of this alliance, the channel was close to Al-Qaeda, and after September 11, 2001 it managed to get exclusive videos of Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri. After the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan that year and the invasion of Iraq in the spring of 2003 it also [managed to obtain videos] of Al-Zarqawi and other [jihad] leaders. Later it was close to ISIS, and managed to obtain and air exclusive videos [of that organization]. The same is true of the Jabhat Al-Nusra [terror organization] and all the organizations of jihad and takfir [i.e., organizations that accuse fellow Muslims of heresy] that eventually tore Arab countries like Syria, Iraq and Libya to pieces.
"Al-Jazeera's record [also] includes significant support for the Arab Spring revolutions. This was a point in its favor, but it soon came to light that the channel was supporting the Muslim Brotherhood in these revolutions. This was clear in the context of Tunisia, with [Al-Jazeera's] unreserved support for the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Al-Nahda movement, as well as in Egypt, Libya and Syria, where it [likewise] extended unreserved support to these currents, so that they, and nobody else, would benefit from the Arab Spring. The channel supported them in the elections so that they would rise to power, although the masses who rebelled [in these countries] had come out against corruption and dictatorship and [called for] liberty and social justice, demanding a modern democratic civil state, namely a secular, liberal and free state…
"In Iraq, Al-Jazeera supported the Islamic party and refrained from criticizing ISIS and later Jabhat Al-Nusra. In Syria it supported [Jabhat] Al-Nusra, the [other] jihad organizations and the Muslim Brotherhood movement, which took over the revolution and tore the Syrian nation-state to pieces. The same thing happened in Libya, where Al-Jazeera supported the Muslim Brotherhood and the entry of jihadi mercenaries into the country, and it continues to support this even today. We have never seen Al-Jazeera expressing concern for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Arab states. On the contrary: it has supported fragmenting them and tearing them apart, including Palestine.
"Here in Palestine, Al-Jazeera has always purported to support the resistance, and in principle that is well and good. But the truth is that, just as it did in the other Arab countries, the channel has strongly supported the intra-Palestinian schism, while favoring the Muslim Brotherhood, namely Hamas. It extended considerable political and media support to [this movement], not just as a resistance movement but [also] in the local and parliamentary elections.
"In the current war [in Gaza], the general impression is that Al-Jazeera is the exclusive channel of the resistance. It has devoted itself entirely… to covering the war and the actions of the resistance, and hired many military experts and political commentators by plying them with vast sums of money and astronomical wages. This seems like a noble action in favor of the resistance. But does it really serve the interests of the Palestinian people? Is [Al-Jazeera really] being altruistic…? Who does this devotion serve? Who benefits from [Al-Jazeera's] ties with the movements of political Islam and the jihad movements, ranging from the Muslim Brotherhood to Al-Qaeda and Al-Nusra? In the case of the Palestinians, who benefits from the constant message that 'the resistance is in good shape,' and from the spreading of [news] about Israeli military defeats, when reality shows that, in actual fact, the Gaza Strip is perishing and being uprooted? Perhaps we should ask Al-Jazeera if Hamas' welfare is more important than the welfare of the Palestinian people and its national cause, which is in a worse state today than ever before – [because] that is how [Al-Jazeera] is behaving. Is the important thing letting regional powers attain trump cards that can help them make deals with Washington and others at the expense of the Palestinian people and [at the cost of] their destruction? The truth is that Al-Jazeera is embarrassing, even though it proves again and again how good it is at promoting its agenda. Ultimately, it is up to the viewer to decide whether Al-Jazeera as the source of all truth, for it surely isn't."
[1] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 10701 - Palestinian Authority: Al-Jazeera Incites Against Us In Service Of Qatar, Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood; We Will Consider Taking Legal Measures Against It; Al-Jazeera In Response: Our Coverage Is Balanced And Professional – July 11, 2023.
[2] Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (PA), March 11, 2024.
