[News] The Israeli Plot to Assassinate Al-Jazeera: A New Front in the War on Palestinian Journalism

[Anti-Imperialist News]

palestinechronicle.com 
<https://www.palestinechronicle.com/the-israeli-plot-to-assassinate-al-jazeera/> 



  The Israeli Plot to Assassinate Al-Jazeera: A New Front in the War on
  Palestinian Journalism

November 19, 2025
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The law, which was dubbed the ‘Al-Jazeera Law’, passed on Monday with a 
majority of 70 votes to 10. (Image: Palestine Chronicle)

*By Robert Inlakesh 
<https://www.palestinechronicle.com/writers/robert-inlakesh>*


          The potential negative implications are enormous and will
          impact not-for-profit organizations, media networks, and even
          individuals who report honestly on Palestine.

 From banning the network from reporting inside occupied Palestine, to 
using their military to assassinate their journalists and cameramen, to 
now targeting Al-Jazeera as a means of bringing down pro-Palestinian 
media outlets in the US. The Israel Lobby is hatching a campaign to 
destroy the media outlet by leveling fact-free accusations against it.

This Monday, an article was published by the Washington-based Foundation 
for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a pro-war think tank that was 
instrumental in arguing the case for the illegal invasion of Iraq. In 
the piece, it was argued that Al-Jazeera collaborates with Hamas beyond 
the confines of journalism.

The arguments laid out in the FDD’s “Does Al Jazeera Collaborate With 
Hamas?” piece hinge upon a number of claims that lack any credible 
evidence. This includes pointing to fabricated documents, released by 
the Israeli military, that accused reputable journalists in Gaza of 
being combatants of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), many of 
whom have now been murdered, based on these faulty accusations.

The FDD article also attempts to depict Al-Jazeera Arabic as having 
broadcast speeches and videos on October 7, 2023, as crossing the line 
into working with Hamas and, therefore, implicating the network in the 
attack itself. Evidently, reporting on such an event and airing original 
content from various groups is not something exclusive to Al-Jazeera.

Regardless of the merits of such arguments, the takeaway is that the 
Qatari-funded network is being targeted and implicated in “terrorism”. 
This is not a tactic that is exclusively used by the FDD, but also a 
large range of employees of Washington-based pro-Israel think tanks, who 
are routinely spreading propaganda against Qatar, the Muslim 
Brotherhood, and Al-Jazeera.

This also happens to be in line with a wider Israeli propaganda campaign 
that was launched earlier this year and is also being supported by the 
likes of the United Arab Emirates. It hinges upon a strategy that 
entails a legislative push to criminalize the Muslim Brotherhood as a 
means of cracking down on a broader set of targets that are being linked 
to the Islamic organization.

Back in July, a bill called H.R. 4397, the “Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist 
Designation Act of 2025”, was introduced to Congress. Lobbying in the 
bill’s favor were the FDD and Christians United for Israel (CUFI).

During that same month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began 
his marathon on conservative American podcasts, attempting to bolster 
his image. Meanwhile, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs began 
financing propaganda tours for some 16 right-wing influencers, aiming, 
according to Haaretz News, to bring 550 conservative figures to Israel 
by the end of the year.


        *The Threat to Al-Jazeera Impacts Everyone*

As of now, there are a range of pro-Israeli influencers and others who 
self-style themselves as promoters of “peace” and opponents of Hamas, 
who are spreading constant fear-mongering about Muslims in the West.

Take Laura Loomer, who has access to the White House and is often 
described as influential on the Trump administration. Loomer herself is 
virulently anti-Muslim, constantly talking about terrorist attacks, and 
specifically goes after both Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Upon the historic victory of New York City Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, Loomer 
made the following post on X (formerly Twitter):

    “Trump could easily dismantle Mamdani and his entire Islamic network
    by denigrating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization
    and filing charges against the Islamic groups and 501 (c) (3 )s that
    funded Mamdani’s campaign. The Holy Land Foundation terrorism trial
    contains troves of evidence for prosecution. Why hasn’t this been
    done yet? TAKE AWAY THE 501c3 STATUS OF THE 4 LETTER ISLAMIC TERROR
    “NON PROFITS” THAT FUND MAMDANI. WHY HAS THIS NOT HAPPENED YET?”

In this post, the anti-Islam commentator outlines a strategy for taking 
out the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) and other 
not-for-profits in the United States, specifically those who backed 
Mamdani. As a means of doing so, she argues in favor of repeating the 
injustice carried out against the Holy Land Foundation, once the largest 
Muslim charity in the US.

Human Rights Watch outlined the case against the Holy Land Foundation as 
follows:

    “The defendants in the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) case were never
    accused of directly funding terrorist organizations or terrorist
    attacks, nor were the Palestinian charities they funded accused of
    doing so. Nonetheless, they were prosecuted under US “material
    support” legislation on the notion that the social programs they
    financed help win the “hearts and minds” of Palestinian people for
    Hamas. The U.S. government’s case was based in part on evidence
    obtained through FISA wiretaps as well as evidence obtained via
    questionable foreign intelligence from Israel, faulty translations,
    and accusations by anonymous Israeli military witnesses who claimed
    that charities receiving funding from the HLF – and from the U.S.
    government itself – were involved in ‘terrorism’.”

In other words, the strategy being used here is to vilify the Muslims 
through using Islamophobic fear-mongering tactics, similar to those used 
to justify the “War on Terror” during the early 2000s, as a means of 
justifying a legislative move against the Muslim Brotherhood. From 
there, media outlets like Al-Jazeera and countless not-for-profits 
across the US can be construed as affiliates of Hamas, or simply the 
Muslim Brotherhood, therefore making them a target for a government 
crackdown.

Making this even more concerning is that the US government, appearing to 
carry out the agenda set forth through the Heritage Foundation 
think-tank’s “Project Esther” document, has been pursuing a mass 
censorship campaign already.

Take the infamous case of the detention by ICE of former Columbia 
University student, Mahmoud Khalil. The justification provided by the US 
government for the totally unconstitutional move to detain and attempt 
to deport him was that he supported Hamas.

Yet, when the likes of the Israeli Lobby connected Canary Mission 
attempted to demonstrate their alleged support for Hamas, all they could 
point to was that he was present when chants were made that had also 
been previously stated by Hamas officials.

Despite the clearly flimsy case against Khalil, he was still pursued and 
experienced a life-changing crackdown on his “free speech” rights. 
Similarly, any case against Al-Jazeera is likely to follow a similarly 
evidence-free line of argument. It is also not only about Al-Jazeera; 
the reason for its targeting is its coverage of the genocide in Gaza.

Alongside this possible threat to ban the outlet entirely, there are 
pressures to force Al-Jazeera to bow down and change the trajectory of 
its Palestine-related coverage by siding against Hamas, or at least 
distancing itself from them. If this were to occur, it would ruin both 
the network and lose a significant base of its audience, as well as 
working to inflict a knock-on effect that could intimidate other outlets.

While countless arguments can be made about Al-Jazeera’s coverage as a 
state-funded media outlet, what agendas it pursues in favor of Qatar and 
disagreements with its framing of various issues, this push against it 
is a question of free speech.

This is to say that you can be in opposition to Al-Jazeera’s editorial 
line, while loathing the Muslim Brotherhood and/or Hamas, yet realize 
the agenda at play here. The potential negative implications are 
enormous and will impact not-for-profit organizations, media networks, 
and even individuals who report honestly on Palestine.

/(The Palestine Chronicle)/


/– Robert Inlakesh is a journalist, writer, and documentary filmmaker. 
He focuses on the Middle East, specializing in Palestine. He contributed 
this article to The Palestine Chronicle. /

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