For many years, the Al Jazeera news network has been promoting the interests of the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies like Hamas and other Palestinian factions. Qatar, which is in charge of Al Jazeera, is the main funder of the Muslim Brotherhood and works to advance the movement’s interests.

In recent years, the Muslim Brotherhood has suffered defeats in elections held in Tunis and Morocco, and the movement’s strength in the Arab world is beginning to wane, making its Qatari support more significant than ever. Many countries are beginning to impose sanctions that make it difficult for the network to broadcast.

In Sudan in recent weeks, the authorities ordered the halt of broadcasts of one of the two Al Jazeera channels that broadcast live in the country. Broadcasts coming from Qatar continue to reach Sudan, but the authorities are raising troubling issues with the network’s operations and are expected to close it.

Tunisia’s president ordered the network to cease operations in July 2021, and in Egypt the Al Jazeera’s operations were shut down in 2011 for five years and several journalists working for the network were imprisoned.

In Saudi Arabia, Morocco and the UAE, Al Jazeera does not operate at all and the citizens there are not exposed to its broadcasts.

Yet, Al Jazeera, a network that incites the masses, continues to broadcast from within Israel without any restrictions. The network’s journalists broadcast during times of crisis and push their anti-Israel agenda even during sensitive events such as riots on the Temple Mount, in the area of Shimon HaTzadiq [the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood] and in Israeli hospitals when jailed terrorists are transferred there during hunger strikes.

The network’s reporters hurry to arrive at scenes of crisis and stir up and incite the crowds by reporting falsehoods, all while broadcasting live. Their coverage is one-sided and full of virulent propaganda. During Operation Guardian of the Walls (last year’s Gaza war), the network regularly broadcast directly from Gaza. It should be noted that in addition to Arabic, Al Jazeera also operates in English and broadcasts its one-sided propaganda to many Western nations.

Has freedom of expression in the State of Israel lost all proportions?

It should be noted that Al Jazeera broadcasts in English are relatively moderate and adapted to Western audiences. For example, in English, the network sympathizes with the Holocaust of the Jews, while in Arabic it denies it. Qatar has long been playing this double game.

In the past, Israel has discussed more than once the possibility of stopping the network’s operations in the country, but without success. Israeli democracy needs to protect itself.

The Muslim Brotherhood, after losing power in Arab countries, is trying to support the Palestinian cause in order to regain power. Al Jazeera gives a platform to anyone who attacks Israel. It instills antisemitism among youth in Arab countries. The network has also stopped inviting Israeli commentators in recent years, as it did in the past. I personally, have not been invited to appear on the network for years due to pressure from Hamas and the Palestinian factions.

Why are we shooting ourselves in the foot? Arab governments recognize the danger of Al Jazeera and have worked to silence it in their countries.

Israel must now do the same.

See our previous report on the Al-Jazeera network

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