Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani today vowed that al-Jazeera was officially “off the table” with respect to any negotiations with the rest of the GCC member nations aimed at ending a diplomatic split which has led to the imposition of a blockade by Saudi Arabia and several other key trading partners.
Saudi Arabia in particular has long criticized al-Jazeera for taking positions contrary to Saudi official policy, and for giving a voice to opposition parties in nations that heavily suppress opposition political speech, and among their demands in last week’s ultimatum, Saudi Arabia demanded that Qatar shut down al-Jazeera forever.
Qatari officials had already rejected the Saudi demands, and Thani today reiterated that al-Jazeera was considered part of Qatar’s “internal affairs,” and the popular regional broadcaster would not be sacrificed as part of any negotiations to end the blockade.
Al-Jazeera’s willingness to air both sides of controversial issues is all but unheard of in Middle East media, and the anti-Qatar crowd have used this fact as part of their narrative that the Qatari government is fomenting “extremism” across the region, with most of the sorest points in al-Jazeera’s broadcast history boiling down to their coverage of the Arab Spring and support for pro-democracy protesters in places like Egypt.
Long may Qatar be the pimple on the side of Saudi Arabia’s butt.
Qatar actually will gain more leverage over Al-Jazeera. As a part of compromise in 2014, Al-Jazeera actually got American influenced management. Its topics were after that time in line with the officialnUS neocon narrative. But as is always the case — neocon media always uses its privileged position to poke and take jabs at other governments to keep them in line and pliable. Example is Al-Qaradawi, a preacher claiming to be Moslem Brotherhood, but actually supporting extreme Wahhabism, and selling that as MB platform. A complete fake — but usefull. It gave a vent to defeated Morsi supporters, it kept Saudi Arabia on edge — as political parties, especially populist and islamists, are danger to apsolute monarchy. But based on my following of AlJazeera site, their take on issues was purely neocon narrative. I can imagine Qatar taking back — in the light of the crisis — the managerial control. Neocons may end up losing an asset. When I compare media in Turkey before and after the coup — it is dayband night. Good analysts are back in media, and globalists Soros provenance — out. This may happen to Al-Jazeera, and while Egypt may like it, Saudis and their allies, including Israel will not.
Egypt will have upper hand now in dealung with KSA. Today, there are protests in Rgypt against Saudi takeover of Egyptian islands.
Saudis doing the job for Israel. Effectively