AJ+, the digital arm of Qatar-funded Al Jazeera, has turned Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. into a story about Jewish media ownership and support for Israel, while overlooking its own ties to the Qatari government.
The video targets Paramount CEO David Ellison and his father, Larry Ellison, highlighting Larry’s donations to Friends of the IDF (FIDF). But FIDF is an American nonprofit that provides educational, financial, and welfare support to Israeli soldiers and veterans. The donation in question was made in 2017, six years before the Gaza war.
AJ+ also presented a lawsuit challenging the merger as a failure, omitting that the resulting settlement secured editorial independence protections for CNN and CBS News.
Meanwhile, its scrutiny of the Ellison family raises questions about selective reporting, particularly when other major American media owners receive less attention.
But the biggest omission is closer to home. Al Jazeera itself is funded by Qatar, a government criticized for human rights abuses and for hosting senior Hamas leaders in Doha.
Media ownership and editorial independence deserve scrutiny. But if AJ+ wants to question who influences American media, it should be equally transparent about who funds its own reporting.
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© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025
