Why 30 Countries Banned This Media

The Power of a PR Machine

Qatar's double-dealing requires a well-funded public relations machine. One way an individual is most likely to have been affected by Qatar without even knowing it is through their state media network. A new era in Middle Eastern television news began when a news channel was launched, reporting state propaganda rather than actual news. Founded in 1996, Al Jazeera is a well-established global news organization that has received substantial funding from the rulers of Qatar.

The network targets different audiences with different messages, whitewashing Qatar’s active collaboration with terrorists while accusing other broadcasters of the very same unethical standards. It is a means to Qatar’s national ambition, stated in its constitution, to encourage the peaceful resolution of international disputes. Whether or not you believe in completely free speech, it is worth asking if public dialogue and public policy can remain balanced when a significant state actor like Al Jazeera raises its voice with impunity while never being held accountable for its owners’ ideologies.

Banned Across the Middle East

Across the Middle East, Al Jazeera has long been regarded as a dangerous tool of state propaganda. In 2017, the Arab League banned Al Jazeera from broadcasting in their countries. This included Saudi Arabia, where Al Jazeera had criticized American and Saudi policy against the Islamic Republic of Iran while praising Hezbollah and Hamas. The United Arab Emirates, where they had misrepresented ministerial statements and accused the UAE of plotting to overthrow the Qatari government. Bahrain, where Al Jazeera ran a lurid and politically charged smear campaign on its living conditions. And Egypt, where Al Jazeera played an instrumental role in toppling the regime during the Arab Spring and where three of its journalists were sentenced to 10 years in prison for collaborating with the Muslim Brotherhood.

But it is not just the Arab League. The Maldives, Mauritania, Senegal, Jordan, and the Bangladeshi Federal Union of Journalists have all called for bans on Al Jazeera. Israel is also on the list, but they made headlines. In May 2024, the Israeli government voted unanimously to shut down Al Jazeera’s offices. Despite Qatar hosting Hamas leaders in Doha and Al Jazeera reporters enjoying privileged access to Gaza, the shutdown came only after overwhelming evidence that those journalists were collaborating with terrorists.

Not Just a News Network

Al Jazeera is the mouthpiece of a fundamentalist Wahhabi state run by only one family. There is no meritocracy of ideas or a democratic contest of values. And yet, it enters the Western media arena with the impunity of state funding and the sole aim of advancing its geopolitical interests. Naturally, it becomes a lightning rod for Westerners who share those fundamentalist ideas, and there are many. Just look at the 5,000 Europeans who joined ISIS or the tragic figure of Shamima Begum, who fled to Syria to become a jihadi bride and now begs for reentry into Britain.

But if Shamima was a child seduced by extremism, what excuse does Lauren Booth have? Booth, Tony Blair’s sister-in-law, was not a teenager and was over her head. She trained as an actress, became a journalist, and, in 2008, traveled to Gaza with George Galloway. There, they were handed honorary Palestinian passports by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. She later left her British passport behind, converted to Islam, married another man, and reinvented herself as a producer for Al Jazeera in London.

Her rise coincided with a trusteeship at a UK charity called Peace Trail. In 2016, a Charity Commission inquiry revealed £200,000 unaccounted for, with £70,000 transferred to an individual in Palestine, for which there was no evidence of its subsequent use. Half the charity’s expenditures had no records at all. Where did the money come from? We do not know, but Peacetrail's and Qatar’s foreign policy goals are suspiciously aligned.

This kind of subversion is not unique. In the Qatargate scandal, Qatar funneled money through a Brussels-based NGO called Fight Impunity to bribe a senior EU Parliament official into silence over human rights abuses. Peacetrail was dissolved in 2017. Booth was banned from holding trusteeships in the UK.

The issue here is not just corruption. It is a double standard. Shamima Begum had her citizenship revoked. Lauren Booth continues to work in the media and lecture. She still aligns herself with enemies of the West and goes unpunished. We are told the war on terror was fought to protect our values, but when one rule applies to jihadists from East London and another to radical activists with a media platform, the whole project starts to look like posturing.

This Is Not About Free Speech

It is not enough to say, 'Well, I do not believe everything on Al Jazeera.' This is not about free speech anymore. People sense, correctly, that Western governments are now captive to powerful lobbyists and that a subversive minority is exploiting that weakness to erode the very foundation of liberal democratic order. Qatar’s voice is louder than ever. And if we do not address it now, it will only get worse.