Islam Times - Arab or Israeli? Arab Satellite Channels Serving Israeli Agenda

Islam Times - Their names are Arabic, their anchors talk in Arabic and many of their staff and experts are Arab, but they work for the Israeli interests.

This is the story of Arab media and networks that instead of broadcasting for the Arab and Muslim world causes are serving Israel these days. We are talking about radio and television networks whose priority is not the Arab public opinion, but the interests of their Western and Israeli masters. This report sheds light on some of the Arab world media outlets that at height of Israeli genocidal war on Gaza have turned into mouthpieces of Tel Aviv.

Media impacts on the Arab public opinion

The presence of various media in the Arab world in the past decade has had various effects and consequences on the public opinion. Still, it cannot be confirmed that the public opinion of the Arab world moves completely in the line desired by these media outlets. In this connection, Kamal Hamidou, an associate professor of Qatar University and the head of Mass Communication Department in this university, believes that Arab viewers are fully aware of the problems of the region and are not deceived by the media propaganda, because they reject content that are ideologically, politically, or culturally biased or propagandistic and against their beliefs. Here are several examples of Arab public protests at the biased content of Arab media:

October 2024: Protests at Saudi-funded MBC in Iraq: The recent raid by angry protesters on the office of MBC network in Baghdad is an example of the reaction of public opinion to some media reports. A day before the protests, this outlet had labeled in a report the leaders of the resistance in Iran and Iraq, Palestine, and Lebanon as "terrorists", stirring public outrage. According to reports, angry Iraqi youths set fire to the office of Saudi Arabia's MBC channel in Baghdad on Saturday morning for insulting the martyred commanders of the Axis of Resistance. Iraqi Media and Communications Department revoked the license of MBC in Iraq in response.

September 2024: Saudi-funded Al Arabiya license revoked in Algeria: Algeria revoked license of the MBC-parented Al Arabiya news network for distorting the reality about the Israeli genocidal war in Gaza and Lebanon. Algerian media reported that Al Arabiya has gone to great lengths over the past year to publish the news of the Israeli war on Gaza and Lebanon in such a way as to weaken the morale of Palestinians and Lebanese.

September 2019:Tunisians protest at Al Arabiya report: The National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists strongly condemned the report of 2 Saudi channels Al-Arabiya and Al Hadath. "We ask the two channels of Al Arabiya and Al Hadath and all the media organizations that quote them to remove the report published on September 3, 2019 about the border area of Al-Dhahibah on the border with Libya," said the syndicate. In this report, Al Arabiya introduced this area as the stronghold of ISIS terrorist group in Tunisia and claimed that the work of the people there is smuggling. This syndicate stressed that the report contained false information that harms the nature of journalism.

Arab media turn blind eye to massacare of Palestinians

The supportive silence of some Arab news networks to Israeli genocidal war on Gaza has drawn protest of Joint Room of Resistance Groups. In a statement, the JRRG described the silence of some Arab media as shameful. Condemning this silence, the statement said that "some suspicious reports by Arab satellite network serve the plans of the Israeli enemy."

"Giving a wide space to Zionist war criminals and anti-resistance Arab figures to promote their lies and blocking the dissemination of voices that express the living conscience of the Ummah is actually a stab in the back of the Palestinian and Lebanese nations in the battle to defend their dignity and freedom and is a service to the Israeli genocidal war... Pretending to be neutral in front of the unprecedented killings of the Zionist enemy in the Arab lands against the Palestinian and Lebanese nations is painful and shameful for some Arab channels," the statement continued.

Controversial networks in Arab world

It should be noted that many controversial media in the Arab world are actually affiliated and funded by individuals or groups close to the West in terms of financial resources. In this regard, a Tehran-based media expert believes that media in the Arab world generally follow the policy of their owners, which means that the subject of audience-centeredness and professional principles in these media are impacted by approaches of their owners. Meanwhile, since in the Arab countries generally the kings, sultans, princes, and permanent president rule, the media follow the official policies. Here is a list to radical Arab media outlets:

ABS (Arab Broadcasting Service) network with 16-year activity: Its founder and owner is the Jordanian Mohammed al-Aljuni, who is affiliated with the royal family.

Alhurra: A US-owned Arab-language news network, it was launched in 2004. Its announced mission is mitigating anti-American sentiments in the region and impacting the Arab public opinion. It'ms founder Norman J. Pattiz died in December 2022.

Ara News: Netherlands-based Arab-language television. It was launched on 2013 at the height of Syrian war. Its orientation is against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and resistance groups. Its founder is Adib Abdul Majid, a Syrian Kurd who fled Syria to the Netherlands upon war eruption.

BNA: Bahraini News Agency. It was launched in 1976 with a priority to publish reports against the Shiite majority of the country and the revolutionary movement in the tiny Persian Gulf monarchy.

ABA: Founded in 2017 by Turkey-backed Tahrir al-Sham terrorist group in Syria, the outlet makes reports on terrorist activities of the group in Syria, including its attacks and military actions that are meant to topple President Assad-led central government.

Middle East News Agency: The outlet was founded by Egypt in 1955 with a mission of following secular policies of the Egyptian government.

Smart News Agency: Founded in 2013 by Syrian opposition activists, Smart News agency is the largest opposition-run Syrian news outlet. In 2014, it received €124,000 in funding from Brussels-based European Foundation for Democracy.

MBC (Middle East Broadcasting Center): Founded in 1991 in London and then relocated to Abu Dhabi in 2002, MBC is owned by Saudi Satellite Media Company. It has over 2,000 staff, with its mission being production of drama and music for normalization of the Western culture in the Arab world.

Al Arabiya: A radical Arab-language news network based in Riyadh and funded by the Saudi government. It was launched in 2003 with an initial funding of $300 million.

Al Hadath: It is an Al Arabiya-parented news channel, launched in 2012. Its mission is reporting in line with official Saudi foreign policy.