Qatar reshapes Al Jazeera as U.S. presses for moderation in Middle East coverage

What’s going on at Al Jazeera? If you go onto its website, you’ll see relatively mild news items, as opposed to the incitement that is usually prominent on the Qatari propaganda network. 

First, I’ll give a small example, and then I’ll explain the background to these developments. An Al Jazeera correspondent in Gaza recently came across locals who wanted to protest against the war. 

Ordinarily, when Palestinians try disrupt the pro-Hamas narrative on live air (you’d be surprised by how often this happens), Al Jazeera’s “journalists” are very quick to cut them off. 

But this time, they stood silently by as the man shouted, amongst other things, “take Jerusalem — we don’t want it anymore.” 

Ok, so what should we make of this? The other day, my Channel 12 colleague Ehud Yaari explained that “Qatar is carrying out a purge at Al Jazeera. 

The director is gone, the deputy is gone, and this comes together with a gradual softening of the network’s editorial line. 

For example, Al Jazeera now — instead of praising and boasting about the actions of Hamas’ military wing — is focusing more on the humanitarian situation in Gaza.” 

Why? “This is apparently part of understandings between them and the United States, under which Al Jazeera will reduce the amount of incitement it spreads throughout the Middle East,” Yaari explained. 

Wanting more information, I asked an intelligence official for their thoughts. Here’s what they told me. “Yesterday I read several times that Hamas is very unhappy with the changes at Al Jazeera.” 

The two even had “an apology call,” according to the official, during which they “agreed upon” the fact that “Trump and Netanyahu forced the Qataris to change direction.” 

But did the official buy this narrative? “I thought they were fantasizing,” they said, “but then I happened to see this, and I also went to Al Jazeera’s homepage, which really doesn’t look the same as it did a week ago (back then — dozens of articles about Gaza and against Israel. 

Now, you can see for yourself — a neutral main headline, another fairly neutral one about the flotilla, and that’s it).” The bottom line? “If this is a real shift, it’s a huge game changer,” they said.