Israel Matzav

Terror television

The week before last I blogged about the start-up of the English language version of al-Jazeera, and noted that it will be very difficult to get in the US, but unfortunately very easy to get in Israel. One has to wonder why the Israeli cable companies are agreeing to carry it.

In the US there is now a website dedicated to stopping the dissemination of al-Jazeera.

Hat Tip: NY Nana

Stopaljazeera.org notes that the only company that is willing to bring al-Jazeera into the US is Globecast.com, a subsidiary of France Telecom.

GlobeCast - a subsidiary of France Telecom - is the only cable or satellite provider that is beaming Al-Jazeera International’s signal into the U.S. And it takes a very unusual satellite dish to pick it up.

Still, it’s a major victory in the global war on terrorism.

Accuracy in Media is renewing its demand for a federal probe to determine if Al-Jazeera constitutes a global terrorist entity and whether its American operations should be closed down immediately.

An AIM poll found Americans overwhelmingly against Al-Jazeera International coming into American homes.

DowJones Market Watch reports: ”Comcast Corp. (CMCSA, CMCSK), the country’s largest cable operator, won’t distribute the international version of Qatar-based news service al-Jazeera, the company confirmed Tuesday.”

Thank you Comcast.

Al-Jazeera continues to defend and pay the legal bills for its former Kabul, Afghanistan bureau chief, in prison in Spain after being convicted of being an agent of al Qaeda. He was linked in documents to those behind the 9/11 plot.

Make sure that you bookmark Stopaljazeera.org.

Meanwhile, Egyptian blogger Big Pharoah reports that al-Jazeera's obsession with being anti-American has brought about some unusual results: They are loved by Sunnis in Iraq and hated by Sunnis in Lebanon.

Hat Tip: Pajamas Media

There is one significant reason. Al Jazeera's platform, its agenda, its editorial line, is based on a sole basis: anti-Americanism. The channel is obsessed with America. If I forgot to lift the toilet seat up and drops of piss ended up on the seat, Al Jazeera will report that with its usual anti-American twist. This what really makes Al Jazeera so unprofessional simply because you can't be a professional news outlet while your entire editorial line is determined by one factor whether it is anti-Americanism or pro-Americanism.

So this is what happened: Al Jazeera supported the anti-America terrorists in Iraq and ended up upsetting the Shias who are victims of the same terrorists. Knowing that the US wants to end Syrian hegemony over Lebanon as well as Hezbollah's threatening influence, Al Jazeera worked against that and ended up being hated by the Lebanese Sunnis.

Another important factor invoving Lebanon that I should mention is the position of Saudi Arabia which is the region's main backer of Sunnis in Lebanon (Rafik Hariri himself was a Saudi citizen). The Saudis are very much concerned about the status of Lebanese Sunnis and therefore support March 14 who not only despise Syrian influence but also the Iranian meddling that their Shia countrymen bring to Lebanon (something Saudi is not so happy with). Qatar on the other hand competes with Saudi Arabia for regional influence and therefore it wants to undermine "Saudi's allies" in Lebanon. And here where Al Jazeera comes in.

Americans and Israelis, on the other hand, should have no problem deciding where we come out on al-Jazeera. There is no reason we should not hate them and oppose their entry into our markets.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:47 PM