Douglas Murray :All eyes should be on Al Jazeera for being founded, funded — and directed — by terrorists All eyes should be on Al Jazeera for being founded, funded — and directed — by terrorists
Considering how much attention the American media get, it’s amazing that one piece of actual, unbelievable subversion keeps going on.That is the Al Jazeera network — founded, funded and directed by the terrorist-supporting state of Qatar.
Last month, The Washington Post reported darkly that the Israeli government had shut down the Al Jazeera network’s operations in Israel because of its coverage from Gaza. WaPo portrayed this as a “dark day” for press freedom.
In fact, there were a lot of good reasons for the Israelis to stop the network from operating inside Israel.
Just one being that a number of Al Jazeera journalists reporting on Israel’s war against terrorists in Gaza were — er — terrorists.
Take Muhammad Washah, whom Al Jazeera presented as a stellar part of the press corps merely reporting the truth.Unfortunately for them, their man is also a senior commander in Hamas.
He used to be in Hamas’ anti-tank missile unit, but since 2022 he has been in charge of research and development for aerial weapons.Known to you and me as “rockets.”
It’s quite something to pull off.
On the one hand, Washah can spend his days making rockets to fire at Israel.
But in the evenings he can report on the terrible destruction in Gaza caused by the “Zionist entity.”
As though it is inexplicable that the Israelis could have any reason to strike any targets in Gaza.
He might have kept getting away with it if IDF soldiers in Gaza had not managed to get a hold of his laptop.
Something that proved the Al Jazeera man’s true loyalties.
The same went for two Al Jazeera “journalists” killed in an airstrike in Rafah in January.
Hamza Wael Dahdouh was the son of Al Jazeera’s Gaza correspondent, Wael Al-Dahdouh.
And while the network complained about the Israelis hitting the vehicle they were in, what they did not mention was that the “journalists” were in a vehicle with a Hamas drone operator while it was targeting Israeli soldiers.
Oh, and young Wael was not just a “journalist,” but a member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad who was “actively involved in attacks” against the Israelis.
Or take Al Jazeera “journalist” Ismail Abu Omar.
In February, his employers reported that their “correspondent” had been badly injured in Khan Yunis.
You might have thought this was a tragic case of a journalist — not for the first time — being caught up in a war.
But Al Jazeera went further.
The network claimed that their “correspondent” had been “deliberately targeted” and that this was a pattern with their journalists.
Al Jazeera claimed that this “intimidation” was being done in order to prevent journalists from reporting “the heinous crimes” of the Israelis.
What it did not note was that Ismail Abu Omar is not a “correspondent.”
Or at least he is not only that.
He is also the deputy commander of Hamas’ Eastern battalion in Khan Yunis.
Journo hostage-holder
On Oct. 7, this Al Jazeera employee went into Israel with the terrorists of Hamas and was filmed praising the massacres.
In one community (Nir Oz, which I reported from for The Post last November), Abu Omar could be seen screaming that “the friends [Hamas] have progressed. May Allah bless” and boasting that Palestinian children would “play with the heads” of the massacred Israeli civilians.
Yet still Al Jazeera has the ability to surprise you.
Earlier this month, in a daring operation, the Israeli army rescued four hostages from homes in Gaza where they were being held.
And one of those who was holding hostages in his home was one Abdallah Aljamal.
Abdallah spent his days writing articles about the humanitarian suffering inside Gaza.
It was the sort of thing that much of the world’s press simply picks up and runs with.
But all the time he was filing such articles, he was holding three Israelis in his home and torturing them.
And it turns out that he, too, had been a contributor to none other than Al Jazeera.
Although it takes a lot to shock me, even by Al Jazeera’s standards this is a new low.
On Monday this week I was debating in Toronto against another Al Jazeera contributor: Mehdi Hasan.
Hasan began his career working for Al Jazeera.
But a few years ago MSNBC gave him a show.
It had some of the lowest ratings even on MSNBC.
Which means that the only homes in which it was playing were ones where the people had left the television on by accident.
But after Oct. 7, even MSNBC had enough of him.
His views — which had always been extreme — became even more so.
Which may be one reason why he has now had to return to Al Jazeera.
Qatari apartheid
It was interesting sparring with him this week.
Because of course he tried to throw every possible accusation against the IDF.
And against me.
Eventually it got a bit much.
Here was someone who was working for the Qataris.
And Qatar is an actual apartheid state — a place where a few hundred thousand citizens are waited on by a slave class of foreign workers with zero human rights.
In its capital, Doha, live not only the heads of Al Jazeera but also their friends in Hamas.
Most of the terror group’s leaders who are not in Gaza live protected in the slave state of Qatar.
So when Mehdi complained about the war that has followed Hamas’ invasion of Israel, I pointed out that it would all be rather easier to take if one of his fellow Al Jazeera contributors hadn’t just been found with Israeli hostages in their home.
After all, if my colleagues kept being found with people in their basements, I reckon I’d keep my head down for a bit.
But no — that is Al Jazeera for you.
A “network” whose “journalists” seem never to be more than one step away from terror, but who seem to get no criticism for it.
As for The Washington Post, which lamented the Israeli government’s ban on Al Jazeera: Well, it seems that one reason it has been so anti-Israel in the past eight months is that its foreign desk alone includes six journalists who previously worked for Al Jazeera.
When people wonder how the media go awry, this is a textbook “how.”
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