Amid the fallout over a video that denied the Holocaust, the anti-Semitism watchdog group Canary Mission has revealed that several members of Al Jazeera’s staff have held longstanding “disdain for Jews and Israel” that predate the video release.
The seven-minute video, which was published last week on the network’s online channel, AJ+, stated that Israel was the “greatest beneficiary,” and that the Holocaust happened, but “it’s different from how the Jews tell it.”
After international outrage, Al Jazeera retracted the video and announced that the makers of the video were to be suspended, and that staff were to undergo sensitivity and bias training.
However, before being pulled, the video reportedly gained 1.1 million Facebook and Twitter views.
“Al Jazeera and Qatar have proven once again that their hate for Israel and the Jewish people supersedes logic, and the network took action only after the video gained many views and received public condemnation,” Avi Benlolo, president and CEO of Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center told JNS.
“The damage done to the Jewish people and Israel here through incitement of anti-Semitism is incalculable. All nations should evaluate Al Jazeera’s presence online and television.”
According to the Canary Mission, several staff members of Al Jazeera and its online channel AJ+ who appeared in the video have found to have had “repeated disdain for Jews and Israel” on their social-media profiles.
Among those profiled by the Canary Mission include:
- Noor Harazeen indicates on her LinkedIn that she is a “filmmaker for Aj+.” She has called for violence, glorified the terror organization Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), shown support for Hamas and expressed support for terrorists.
- Amr Kawji states on Twitter that he is a “Video Editor and sometimes Producer at AJ+/Syrian from Chicago living in Doha.” He has spread anti-Semitism, defended the terror organization Hezbollah and expressed support for terrorists. On March 2, 2014, Kawji tweeted: “The yahood [Jews] run the #oscars.”
- Sana Saeed indicates on her LinkedIn that she is a host/senior producer at Al Jazeera+ (AJ+). She has expressed support for Hamas, promoted terrorists, spread anti-Israel conspiracy theories and defended violent anti-Israel agitators. She has also demonized Zionism and undermined Muslim interfaith dialogue with Jews. On Jan. 18, 2015, Saeed tweeted: “Israel & Al Qaeda are likely coordinating with one another. Yeah. Imma pull a white girl and just can’t even.”
- Dima Khatib indicates on her LinkedIn that she is the managing director of AJ+. She has spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, defended Hamas and Hezbollah, glorified terrorists and demonized Israel. On Dec. 18, 2010, Khatib tweeted: “Behind US support for Israel there is a huge Zionist lobby with economic and media power.”
- Danna Fakhoury indicates on her LinkedIn that she is a “social content producer” at AJ+. She has spread hatred of Israel, equated Zionism with Nazism and expressed support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement on social media. On March 8, 2013, Fakhoury tweeted: “Zionism is hate. Zionism is evil. Zionism is the modern-day Nazism. don’t be fooled. the tide is turning.”
- Omar Duwaji indicates on his LinkedIn that he is a producer at AJ+. He has glorified a terrorist, demonized Israel and spread a conspiracy theory on social media. On Sept. 8, 2013, Duwaji tweeted: “REPORT: Hitler may not have authorized systemic murder of Jews during Holocaust.”
Alex Safian, associate director for CAMERA, said that the Al Jazeera situation shows their longstanding anti-Semitism and bias against Israel to Western audiences.
“To a Western audience, Al Jazeera tries to appear more moderate, while in Arabic they show their true face and their actual motivations. In this case, they got caught and embarrassed, so they put on a show of being apologetic,” CAMERA associate director Alex Safian told JNS.
“Does this mark a change in the tenor of their journalism, including in Arabic? Will they end or even restrain their anti-Israel propaganda and incitement to violence? Not likely on all counts because doing so would betray their reason for being.”
The Al Jazeera situation follows on the heels of the scandal at The New York Times, which published two cartoons that were deemed anti-Semitic and the paper later apologized for.
