The Evening Standard reports that “British staff working for the new English language Al-Jazeera channel drank so much alcohol that they were ordered to undergo special ‘cultural awareness’ training on how to behave in a Muslim country.” The story says these were news presenters and producers “hired on massive taxfree salaries.”
Sounds like Arab petro-dollars are subsidizing the ethenol industry.
It adds: “It is not known whether any of the more famous presenters had been singled out as being involved in the boozing.”
The story says that a “growing list of critics including former employees, Right and Leftwing bloggers and Muslim commentators, have all predicted a disastrous future…” for the channel.
No as long as the Emir pours petro-dollars into the operation.
Posted: November 14, 2006 at 7:11 am
The Canadian magazine Macleans has hit the nail on the head in a story about Al-Jazeera International - “the new enterprise [AJI] has since been brought under the direct control of the Arab channel.” BINGO.
So don’t believe all the nonsense about AJI being “independent.”
What’s more, Western employees were forced to go through classes on political correctness. It reports, “AJI employees who were flown to Qatar for political orientation classes designed to help them overcome their Western biases received a stern warning about their off-hours behaviour this past spring. ‘Do not get drunk in public, do not wander around late into the night disturbing the neighbours and do not wander around half-naked,’ read the email. ‘And I am appalled to have to state the blindingly obvious: topless sunbathing by the pool is not acceptable behaviour.’”
Wandering around half-naked? Going topless? What a group. Is this the best that Arab petro-dollars could buy?
The story goes on: “AJI has had considerable trouble selling itself to cable and satellite providers who fear a backlash from pressure groups and customers over its parent company’s perceived terrorist sympathies. Al-Jazeera has become a favourite target of American conservatives who allege the network operates as a propaganda arm for al-Qaeda and other Islamic radical groups.”
Alleges? We prove it.
For a look at the new AJI line-up, go here.
Posted: November 13, 2006 at 1:26 pm
Joyzelle Davis of the Rocky Mountain News, in its April 22, 2006, edition, reports that, “EchoStar’s Dish Network is the only cable or satellite operator in the U.S. publicly willing to consider carrying controversial Arab news channel Al Jazeera’s planned English-language spinoff.”
I have emailed EchoStar at press@echostar.com to see if this is true. Perhaps you may want to find out as well. Their press spokesperson is Kathie Gonzalez, 720-514-5351.
You may wish to remind her that:
The Qatar-funded Al-Jazeera acts in support of global terrorist organizations such as al Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah. Al-Jazeera International, the English-language version of Al-Jazeera, is currently negotiating carriage on cable and satellite systems controlled by Western media organizations. AIM has produced the DVD, “Terror Television: The Rise of Al-Jazeera and the Hate America Media,” noting evidence that:
· Al-Jazeera’s first managing director, Mohammed Jassem al-Ali, was shown in a videotape captured after the liberation of Iraq taking orders from Uday Hussein.
· Al-Jazeera’s Kabul, Afghanistan, bureau chief, Tyseer Alouni, was charged, convicted and sentenced to prison in Spain for being an agent of al Qaeda, and was alleged to have links to members of a terror cell that planned the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America.
· Al-Jazeera continues to pay Alouni’s legal bills and defend him.
· Al-Jazeera employee Sami al-Haj was captured in Afghanistan and is now in prison at Guantanamo Bay on terrorism charges.
· Al-Jazeera was expelled from Iraq by its new democratic government.
Posted: October 23, 2006 at 5:16 pm
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, who is being sued for defamation for falsely blaming Steven J. Hatfill for the post 9/11 anthrax attacks, is now coming to the defense of a suspected terrorist — Al-Jazeera cameraman Sami al-Hajj, now in prison at Guantanamo Bay. “There is no public evidence that Sami al-Hajj committed any crime other than journalism for a television network the Bush administration doesn’t like,” Kristoff says in his October 17 column.
The problem with the column, of course, is that Al-Jazeera is not “journalism.” What’s more, any sane-thinking person should detest Al-Jazeera, for its inspires anti-American violence.
Perhaps he is innocent, but I wouldn’t take Kristof’s word for it. He was wrong about Hatfill and he could be wrong about al-Hajj. In fact, if I were al-Hajj, I’d want Kristof to stay completely away from my case.
Al-Hajj’s attorney, Clive Stafford Smith, has said that Taysir Alouni, Al-Jazeera’s Kabul, Afghanistan, bureau chief, may have been innocent, too. But Alouni was convicted of being an agent of al Qaeda and is now in prison in Spain.
By the way, Osama bin laden says they are both innocent of ties to al Qaeda. Why didn’t Kristof mention that in his column?
Posted: October 17, 2006 at 2:31 pm
Nothing more needs to be said. Here’s how an AP story began:
“A major insurgent group in Iraq has praised Al-Jazeera television in an audio message posted on the Internet, saying the Arab satellite station served the fight against the Americans.
The speaker was not identified on tape but a statement alongside it said it was the head of the Islamic Army in Iraq, and that the recording was issued to mark the start of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month.
The identity of the Sunni group’s leader is unknown.
Most media played an “ugly and criminal role against the holy warriors,” the voice said. “But some media, though few and under pressure, were neutral and their important role was positive in our fight against the enemies. This includes Al-Jazeera.”
The terrorist group, the Islamic Army in Iraq, “is believed to include former members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party, his intelligence service and former army officers,” AP said.
AP added: “The group’s spokesperson, Ibrahim al-Shammari, is a frequent guest on Al-Jazeera, advocating Iraq’s right to fight against foreign forces he has called occupiers.”
All of this is consistent with the evidence in AIM’s DVD on how Al-Jazeera’s first managing director functioned as an agent of the Saddam Hussein regime.
Posted: September 27, 2006 at 7:47 pm
A post on the “Friends of Al-Jazeera” web site from U.S. News & World Report makes it clear: Al-Jazeera is “poison” in the U.S., making it hard for Al-Jazeera International to fly. This comes as AIM has posted poll results showing strong opposition to Al-Jazeera International.
The article goes on: ”the launch has fallen victim to enormous technical difficulties and the herculean task of selling an al Jazeera product in a post-9/11 America that’s at war in the Arab world and suspects-rightly or wrongly-that the network favors the bad guys.”
Wrongly? The post is usually seen next to an appeal for Tayseer Allouni, the Al-Jazeera correspondent in prison in Spain, having been convicted of being an al Qaeda agent.
The article adds: “I think it’s shortsighted not to carry it here, but then again, I don’t have to carry it,” says Paul Maxwell, the founder of CableFAX, considered the industry’s bible. “With the climate in the U.S. and the way the government behaves toward the network, who needs the bother?” (emphasis added).
In fact, the government should oppose the channel, according to a majority in our poll, and yet the current U.S. posiiton is to put U.S. officials on the Arabic Al-Jazeera to make us look better. What a great success that has been.
You can read the original U.S. News article here.
Contact your Senators and Congressmen right now. Help us stop Al-Jazeera.
Posted: September 13, 2006 at 3:19 pm
Dr. Khaled Shawkat, director of the Netherlands-based Center for Promoting Democracy in the Arab World, says that Al-Jazeera TV has been “hijacked” by the Muslim Brotherhood, the group that gave rise to terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Al-Jazeera, he says, was an historic opportunity to advance democracy in the Arab world but the opportunity has been lost. As reported by MEMRI, He says:
”Al-Jazeera has been hijacked by the Muslim Brotherhood organization - either at the wish of the channel’s owners as part of a certain political game [played] by the Qatari rulers, or out of the lack of awareness of the Qatari rulers, who think that the situation is under control and that even though they have given the Muslim Brotherhood a chance to control Al-Jazeera, for local, regional, and international considerations, they can get rid of them or restrain them any time they want… ”
This helps explain why Al-Jazeera has played a role in the rise of Hamas in the Palestinian territories and why its employees were arrested in Israel on suspicion of aiding Hezbollah. It also explains why the channel was infilitrated by and became a mouthpiece for al Qaeda. See our recent AIM Report on this matter.
He says the current managers of Al-Jazeera are “trying to preserve the channel’s popularity by distorting Arab public opinion, [which it achieves] by stirring up emotion on sensitive regional issues, such as Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan…”
BINGO.
He adds, “Recently, a joke [has been going around] that explains the delay in launching the English Al-Jazeera International channel: The British director is refusing to swear loyalty to the supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood…”
But is that a joke? This is no laughing matter. This adds to our case that Al-Jazeera International must be stopped from entering U.S. media markets.
Contact your member of Congress immediately at 202-224-3121.
Posted: August 24, 2006 at 10:49 am
The New York Post, which is not always reliable, claims that Al-Jazeera International “has secured carriage agreements with cable, satellite, telecom and broadband video providers, according to spokesman Michael Holtzman.” It quotes Holtzman as saying, “We’ve gotten carriage across the board. We just can’t identify with whom at this stage because they are at different stages.” The Post reported that “Holtzman said the debut will be available in more than just a smattering of American homes.”
Should we believe this? It’s strange that Holtzman would be so secretive, except if the channel is meeting significant resistance. Which means it may be a lot of bluster. Why aren’t they trumpeting their success?
In a column about this development, Doug Powers refers to Al Jazeera as “the Nickelodeon of nutcases and the ESPN of choice for the discerning knife, rocket and belt-bomb jihad sportsmen…” He cites the following cartoon as an example of how Al-Jazeera may be getting its exclusive terrorist videos:
“There are major players at the table,” Holtzman said. “This won’t be a tiny toehold; we will have significant access.”
Posted: August 22, 2006 at 8:43 am
Britain’s Independent newspaper reports that Paul Gibbs, Al-Jazeera International’s director of programs, has resigned after differences of opinion with management.
Meanwhile, the Canadian Jewish News reports that, “Quebec-based Vidéotron Ltée. says its cable company would seriously consider carrying al-Jazeera’s nascent 24-hour English-language international new channel – al-Jazeera International (AJI) – if the channel gets the go-ahead from the CRTC” – the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. One reason for Vidéotron’s receptiveness to AJI “is the growing Muslim population in Quebec,” the paper reported.
Reporter David Lazarus added, “Two years ago, the CRTC approved a broadcast licence for the Arabic-language al-Jazeera, but the station never made it to Canadian households via domestic cable and satellite carriers because the CRTC stipulated that they would have to monitor its feed 24 hours a day and could even censor portions deemed unsuitable for broadcast.
“That effectively made it untenable for cable and satellite companies to carry al-Jazeera. It’s unknown, at this point, whether the CRTC might apply similar conditions on AJI.”
Posted: August 12, 2006 at 8:16 pm
Karen Hughes of the State Department says the answer to Al-Jazeera’s poisonous propaganda is to go on the channel to offer the U.S. side of the story. The Dallas Morning News says ”she’s intent on ‘changing the culture’ of the State Department, to empower ambassadors and others to speak out more often and more forcefully – even on the Arab television network Al-Jazeera, which the administration has previously scorned.” The paper adds that “Ms. Hughes, who has the rank of ambassador, has appeared several times on Al-Jazeera, despite what she calls ‘legitimate concerns’ that some of its coverage has been inflammatory.” She tells the paper, ”as a communicator, I feel it’s important to get our voice on the channels that people are watching. And Al-Jazeera is the channel that people are watching in the Middle East.”
On her Web site, however, it is said that the U.S. must “Isolate and marginalize the violent extremists” and “confront their ideology of tyranny and hate.” How is that accomplished by going on Al-Jazeera, an outlet for tyranny and hate?
A better approach is to tell the autocrats who run Qatar, where Al-Jazeera is based, to pull the plug on this channel or face the consequences.What has Qatar been doing in the current crisis? The U.N. passed its resolution on Lebanon 14-1 — the one was Qatar. Qatar’s leading English daily paper proundly reports that “Qatar tried to push through a resolution in the UN Security Council to condemn the Israeli aggression in Lebanon but the United States blocked it with a veto, says the Palestinian ambassador in Doha.”
Previously, on July 6, AP reported that Qatar circulated its own draft U.N. Security Council resolution “demanding Israel end its offensive in the Gaza Strip and release the Palestinian officials it has arrested.” AP added that, “The draft faced immediate opposition from the United States and France, which called it unbalanced in its criticism of Israel. The document does not condemn the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian militants and makes no mention of Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel this week.”
Qatar is supposed to be a “moderate” Arab regime. And Al-Jazeera was supposed to promote democracy in the Arab world.
Wake up Ambassador Hughes!
Posted: August 7, 2006 at 12:30 pm
