In this mailing:
- Khaled Abu Toameh: Where Muslims Can Speak Freely in the Middle East
- Shoshana Bryen: Beware Al-Jazeera Coming to America
Where Muslims Can Speak Freely in the Middle East
by Khaled Abu
Toameh
August 22, 2013 at 5:00 am
August 22, 2013 at 5:00 am
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Today it
has become evident that that leaders and members of the Islamic Movement in
Israel enjoy more freedom and rights than the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt,
Jordan, and even -- under the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank -- Hamas.
Arab journalists and columnists in Israel have been expressing their views
about the Egyptian crisis without fear, while their colleagues in Egypt, Jordan
and the Palestinian Authority are afraid to speak their mind.Israel, for example, is one of the few countries in the Middle East where Muslims are permitted to demonstrate in favor of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood organization.
This is not because Israel supports Morsi or the Muslim Brotherhood; it is because the Muslim protesters know that in a democratic country like Israel they can hold peaceful demonstrations and express their views without having to worry about being targeted by the authorities.
Israel has become a safe place not only for Arab Christians, but also for Muslims who wish to express their opinion away from intimidation and violence.
While pro-Morsi demonstrators are being shot, wounded, arrested and harassed in Egypt, the Palestinian Authority-controlled territories and some Arab countries, in Israel they are free to stage protests and express their views even in the heart of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
In Israel, pro-Morsi demonstrators even feel free to chant slogans against Israel and the U.S., and to hoist Hamas flags.
For the past five weeks, thousands of Muslim worshippers have been using Friday prayers at the Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem to organize demonstrations in support of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.
On August 17, thousands of Muslims demonstrated in Nazareth to voice support for Morsi. They also chanted slogans denouncing the "military coup" in Egypt, dubbing army commander Abdel Fattah al-Sissi a U.S. agent.
On August 15, one day after the violent crackdown on Morsi supporters in Cairo and other Egyptian cities, in which hundreds of Egyptians were killed, some 150 members of the Islamic Movement in Israel staged a protest outside the Egyptian embassy in Tel Aviv.
Muslim Israeli Arabs
protest in front of Egypt's embassy in Tel Aviv, August 15, 2013.
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By comparison, the Palestinian Authority, which has come out in support of the ouster of Morsi, continues to crack down on Muslims who voice solidarity with the deposed Egyptian president.
While mosque preachers in Israel are free to express their views about the Egyptian crisis, their colleagues in the West Bank have been warned by the Palestinian Authority government against speaking out in favor of Morsi. Two preachers from the Jenin area who dared to violate the ban were quickly detained by Palestinian Authority security forces.
Earlier this week, Palestinian Authority security officers arrested two Palestinians for expressing public support for Morsi.
While Muslim Brotherhood leaders have been thrown into prison in Egypt, Raed Salah and Kamal al-Khatib, the leaders of the Islamic Movement in Israel, continue to lead normal lives and organize various political activities around the country.
One of them, Islambuli Badir from Tulkarem, was detained for manufacturing and marketing a perfume named after Morsi. The second, Mahmoud Ayyad, a poet from Bethlehem, was taken into custody for wearing a shirt with a portrait of Morsi.
Last week, Palestinian Authority policemen used force to break up a pro-Morsi rally in Hebron. Two local journalists, Akram al-Natsha and Mahmoud Abu Ghania, complained that the policemen threatened and insulted them during the confrontation.
Today it has become evident that leaders and members of the Islamic Movement in Israel enjoy more freedom and rights than the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Jordan and even -- under the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank -- Hamas.
Related Topics: Israel
| Khaled Abu
Toameh
Beware Al-Jazeera Coming to America
by Shoshana Bryen
August 22, 2013 at 3:30 am
August 22, 2013 at 3:30 am
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Al-Jazeera
may continue to be the propaganda organ of a dictator who supports the Muslim
Brotherhood, telling lies in Arabic and another story in English; increasing
its anti-American, anti-Christian and anti-Semitic view of the world, and
fomenting violence in the Middle East and the Arab world.
Al-Jazeera is "breaking in with something we think is unique, and are
confident, with our guts and some research, that the American people are
looking for," according to its America's president Kate O'Brian. If she is
claiming "guts" and "research" are among the qualities
sought by American viewers, she may be right, although what puts Al-Jazeera
uniquely in a position to provide either is unclear. In a Time.com
article, Al-Jazeera political analyst Marwan Bishara worried that it would
become "too American," with too many American accents and
"watered down" journalism – hardly the stuff of unique
"guts."The real concern for American viewers is not the quality of the product on the screen, but rather two mostly hidden issues: the government behind the network, and the difference between Al-Jazeera's Arabic and English versions.
To Americans, Al-Jazeera purports to be the equivalent of CNN or Fox or MSNBC – an independent purveyor of news. Yes, Americans know that most media leans left and a little bit of it leans right, but the networks themselves are generally free of government manipulation. Al-Jazeera, however, is a wholly owned arm of the Government of Qatar. The State Department describes Qatar as "an hereditary constitutional monarchy governed by the ruling Al Thani family in consultation with a council of ministers, an appointed advisory council, and an elected municipal council." [In other words, a dictatorship, and the switch from the elder Al Thani last month to his son this month may be no change at all.]
This is not CNN, but Pravda; not Fox, but Izvestia. When Americans watched Soviet propaganda masquerading as news during the Cold War, they were aware of its source and aware of its biases toward communism and against free markets and free systems. The British government openly and proudly owns the BBC, and while the corporation's mandate is "to provide impartial public service broadcasting," viewers know what they're measuring against.
What should viewers know about Qatar that might impact how Al-Jazeera covers news?
First, Qatar is a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood. The elder Emir was the first head of state to visit Hamas, the Palestinian offshoot of the Brotherhood and an entry on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations. While there, he offered Hamas $450 million. Separately, Qatar announced a $1 billion "Heritage Fund" to "protect the Arabic and Islamic heritage of Jerusalem." Apparently there is no Jewish heritage in the city needing "protection." Qatar funded Libyan rebels, many of whom were al Qaeda-related and who followed battle in Libya with the war in Mali. Qatar, in conjunction with Brotherhood-leaning Turkey, has spent $1-3 billion on Syrian rebels, with concerns that some part of more than 70 plane-loads of Qatari-supplied weapons found their way into the hands of the al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al Nusra as well as Muslim Brotherhood forces.
Crucially, during the Egyptian upheaval, Al-Jazeera has been understood to be on the Brotherhood's side against the al-Sisi government. In July, 22 Al-Jazeera Cairo staff members quit, accusing the station of "airing lies and misleading viewers." Former anchor Karem Mahmoud said there was "biased coverage" and "the management in Doha provokes sedition among the Egyptian people and has an agenda against Egypt and other Arab countries." He added that the channel's management instructed the staff to favor the Brotherhood.
To make its own preferred political point, Al-Jazeera has stooped to the sort of phony journalism that has characterized coverage of supposed Hamas injuries in Gaza. On Tuesday, Al-Jazeera ran a clip of a Morsi supporter with a bandage around his head and a blood-soaked compress on his stomach. The "patient," however, forgot to let the local medic in on the scam, and as the bloody gauze is taken away and the bloody shirt lifted to treat the wound, there simply is no wound. The "patient" then lifts his leg and shoves the attendant away, irritated. The clip has more than 2.2 million hits on YouTube.
The second problem is that Al-Jazeera in English is not Al-Jazeera in Arabic. Historian Harold Rhode explains:
They… have completely separate staffs and editorial policies. Al-Jazeera in English is not particularly anti-Western and has interesting content. Al-Jazeera in Arabic is viciously anti-American, anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, and incites its viewers to fight the West. Al-Jazeera English was created to pacify Western governments, who are lulled into believing that since both stations have the same name, they must air the same material.
After 9-11, Fouad Ajami wrote, "Day in and day out, Al Jazeera deliberately fans the flames of Muslim outrage." Anti-Semitic cartoons on the network would not pass muster anywhere in the United States.
This may seem less weighty than the issue of state ownership, but it goes to the core of journalistic integrity – of which Al-Jazeera has none. Americans generally do not speak Arabic and will not watch the Arabic version. It is a lie by omission to let Americans think that the harmless – or even interesting – programming they see is the same that is seen by millions of Arabic speakers, when in fact, Al-Jazeera promotes calumnies and hatreds against us and against our friends, and promotes incitement to terror.
Journalist Oren Kessler, postulated the network in English would have three choices:
To continue its present gambit of declaring a common "vision" with its parent channel while hoping the latter's indiscretions somehow do not reflect poorly on itself… to pressure that same out-of-control kin to pull its act together, lest it once again cast doubt on the character of both… (or) to categorically and unequivocally cut its own cord.
Unfortunately, there is a fourth. Al-Jazeera may simply continue to be the two-faced propaganda organ of a dictator who supports the Muslim Brotherhood, telling lies in Arabic and another story in English; increasing its anti-American, anti-Christian and anti-Semitic view of the world, and fomenting violence in the Middle East and the Arab world.
Only the level of American viewership will determine Al-Jazeera's future.
Shoshana Bryen is Senior Director of The Jewish Policy Center.
Related Topics: Shoshana Bryen
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