Israel's Finance Ministry shot down an idea for a “Jewish Al-Jazeera.” The Jerusalem Post quotes cabinet member Isaac Herzog:
“We considered establishing a Jewish Al-Jazeera, especially one that would broadcast in Arabic and Farsi," he said. "But that was torpedoed by the Finance Ministry, which refused to pay for it."
Last week, Jonathan Mirvis made the case for "al-Jewzeera," albeit in English:
An important conveyer of the Hamas narrative was Al Jazeera, which recently recognized the importance of communication not only with the Arab world in its native Arabic but with the English-speaking world as well. Al Jazeera gave the Hamas a media edge with which Israel could not compete. The network was on the scene in real time, and while it had the “credibility” of being an independent news source, it became the shofar of the Hamas narrative.
As opposed to this English speaking on site reporting, Israel has to filter its reports to foreign journalists, many of whom are not proficient in Hebrew. These journalists have no access to an Israeli narrative outside of the one portrayed by the government’s spokesmen and their reporting reflects their skepticism of the official line.
An important aspect of having a Jewish TV station as opposed to an Israeli one is that it will have access to the Arab capitals in the same way as Al Jazeera has access to Jerusalem.
Should Israel set up its own satellite news channel?
