It’s not exactly insider information that Qatar’s Al Jazeera is an unreliable news source. Its American subsidiary, Al Jazeera America, was ditched in 2016 after viewers saw through its old-fashioned Arab nationalist and strong pro-Muslim Brotherhood bias.
So, to anyone familiar with the organization’s clearly anti-Western and anti-Israel bent, the wording of a recent tweet should not have come as a surprise.
“50 Jewish settlers, backed by heavily armed Israeli police, storm Al-Aqsa compound in East Jerusalem.” The text was pulled directly from the headline of an article on the Al Jazeera website, with the link included at the end of the tweet.
Of course, no such thing had happened.
HonestReporting swiftly reacted, issuing a tweet of its own, mocking Al Jazeera’s propagandistic post, “translating” into real terms what had actually transpired: 50 Jews peacefully visited Judaism’s holiest site, the Temple Mount, and were escorted by police for their own protection.
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Translation:
50 Jews peacefully visit Judaism's holiest site, the Temple Mount, escorted by police for their own protection. https://t.co/nOyByKOA1K
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) May 24, 2021
The tweet was liked over 100 times, and shared over 40 times. Shortly thereafter, the original Al Jazeera tweet was deleted. The headline to the story on the Al Jazeera site was also edited to read, “Backed by Israeli police, Jewish settlers enter Al-Aqsa compound.” While this is also alarmist and devoid of context, at least it’s not a blatant lie.
Over the years, Al Jazeera has repeatedly allowed its anti-Israel bias to interfere with its reporting, even spreading a baseless story about a man posing on Facebook as an Emirates pilot who was suspended for refusing to fly to the Jewish state. The story was a lie, and a simple investigation would have immediately shown that the man was never employed by the airline to begin with. After much ridicule, Al Jazeera pulled the report from its website.
And last year prominent video blogger and social media influencer Nas, of the Nas Daily channel, exposed how he was the target of a smear campaign run by Al Jazeera against him. His crime? Being an Arab who openly promotes peaceful co-existence, including between Jewish Israelis and Palestinians.
Hopefully the public is becoming increasingly aware of Al Jazeera’s propensity to lie.
Featured Image: Osama Bhutta, Flickr
