The nation of Qatar
has historically been a funder of terrorism.
The United States and Qatar
will do more to keep the region and our homeland safe.
And it is our hope that Qatar will
change its policies
to stop terrorism,
terror financing,
harboring of terrorists.
Enough is enough.
Our interests with Qatar converge
somewhat more often than they actually diverge.
Qatar must cut ties with terrorism.
The problem with Al Jazeera is one that I think
American officials and Western officials should
be more concerned about and that is that Al
Jazeera has long been a mouthpiece for some
of the more radical voices in the Middle East.
I remember one very famous
episode, this must have been maybe 2008.
It was shortly after after Israel released Samir Kuntar
who was a terrorist
and who was involved in a horrible incident
killing several members of an Israeli family,
and they celebrated Samir birthday on Al Jazeera.
It was a terrible moment.
Straddling the line between news and propaganda,
Al Jazeera Arabic, according to Hussein Ibish
of the Arab Gulf States Institute,
flirts with the promotion of violence.
According to the Economist, the network champions
extremist viewpoints, broadcasts messages
from terrorists and terror organizations
including Yusuf al-Qaradawi,
a radical Islamic theologian
who advocates violence on his own talkshow.
Immediately after 9/11 the first time that
many Americans and others heard of Al Jazeera.
They understood that it was effectively Osama
bin Laden's bulletin board where they would
post different bin Laden or other al Qaeda
videos threatening Americans threatening fire
and brimstone.
When you talk about trying to fight jihadism
and the ideology that powers it, Al Jazeera,
I think, has fomented those problems.
It has exacerbated those problems so we see
the messages from al Qaeda from ISIS from
Hamas all normalized on Al Jazeera...
You also see a strident anti-Saudi, anti GCC
establishment voice which is often what has
been the thorn in the side of the Saudis and
the GCC.
When it first started,
soon it became apparent
that Al-Jazeera had very specific agendas.
It was selectively truthful.
It...ended up becoming the channel through
which Osama bin Laden sent his messages to
the rest of the world.
And in recent years all extremist groups managed to find
a greater resonance with Al Jazeera
than do those advocating
moderation in the Muslim world.
But that should not have used Al-Jazeera to
destabilize other countries.
If you go downtown Doha and you look at the
number of journalists who work for Al-Jazeera
many of whom are Muslim Brothers sympathizers,
many of them are members of that organization.
Clearly a very different political path here
chosen by Qatar than its neighbors in elsewhere
in the GCC.
Several of Al Jazeera correspondents have had
Muslim Brotherhood links.
The actions of Al Jazeera have been challenged
by some of its own former employees who say
that it wanted them to behave and act in manners
that would put them at risk for being terrorists.
When you actually look at the Arabic language
programming- for example in recent years, I think
you could make a pretty good case that the
programs have fueled the sectarian conflict
in the Middle East.
The sort of sectarian message that comes from
some of these speakers and some of the staff
frankly who work for
Al Jazeera as journalists is quite upsetting to watch.
Al Jazeera is not your regular conventional
news organization but something that can be
considered a veritable arm of Qatar's policy of
trying to get greater hitting from the part of the
Muslim Brotherhood in the Muslim world.
There are several people who come on Al-Jazeera
who have either been
considered a terrorist,
terror enablers, terrorist financiers,
or terrorist instigators.
If you believe as I do, sectarianism is one
of the most dangerous plagues right now in
the Middle East, then a platform as
important and as resourceful as Al Jazeera should not
be engaging in promoting sectarianism.
But I believe that's exactly what Al Jazeera Arabic
can be accused to have done.
There was probably a moment during the Bush
administration where they were very clearly
viewing Al Jazeera as part of the enemy.
There was a moment where at least according to some
officials there was talk of taking
out Al Jazeera assets.
That is probably no longer the case now that
they see Al Jazeera as exercising its right
to free speech.
The problem is is that it does seem to be fomenting,
exacerbating, and adding to the challenge of
radical Islam.
There is one preacher by the name of Yusuf
Qaddafi who is a man who has largely normalized
Hamas suicide bombings and he's had a regular show
over the years and he's a regular guest
on Al Jazeera.
It's things like that that really get under
the skin of those who are fighting the ideology
of extremism.
Al-Jazeera also allows some of the most
extreme interpretations of Islam to be presented to
its viewers instead of allowing a variety
of Islamic interpretations being discussed
and letting the viewers realize that Islam
as it is practiced in most countries has some
regional local and even philosophical differences
and that difference must be celebrated by
presenting Islam as only one option and
one way of Islam to the people.
Al Jazeera does a disservice to Muslim Plutos.
You won't see them advocating for
violence institutionally.
It's implied throughout their programming.
It's endorsed tacitly in much of their programming.
It's highly problematic.
I think it needs to be called out for what it is.
I don't see it as being that different from
you know RT, for example, Russian television.
It's a propaganda outlet for the Qataris.
It's a means for them to extend their power
and to make sure that their voices are being heard.
