Maybe Israel has begun to wake up. Today the foreign ministry office announced a boycott of Al-Jazeera, the al Qaeda News Network. No member of the Israeli government will appear on the terrorist supporting all news channel nor will any of their personnel be allowed in government offices. Not that it matters, Al-Jazeera has a history of skewing each report to sell the radical Islamic point of view--kind of like CNN. During the "Second Lebanon War" Al-Jazeera personnel were accused of giving positions to Hezbullah so that its missile fire would be more accurate.
Israel launches boycott of Al-Jazeera for biased coverage Herb Keinon and jpost staff , THE JERUSALEM POST Mar. 12, 2008 Following a report by the Jerusalem Post which exposed an unofficial government boycott of Al-Jazeera, the Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday that the move was now official.
In a letter to be sent to Qatar in the coming days, the Foreign Ministry explained that the decision was made following an examination of biased coverage of IDF operations in the Gaza Strip, and would include a general refusal by Israeli officials to accept interviews with the station, as well as ban on Al-Jazeera correspondents from entering government offices in Jerusalem.
Deputy Foreign Minister Majallie Whbee told Army Radio that the move was necessary.
"Discussions on the matter were held in the Foreign Ministry, and I decided that we would boycott the channel. Al-Jazeera has turned into [a mouthpiece for terrorists]. These reports are not credible, they harm us, and they spur people into carrying out acts of terror.
Whbee recounted his own experience being interviewed by the channel.
"I appeared [on the channel] more than once. There is a tendency towards radicalization. Guests don't disconnect from their emotions, and they tailor everything to an anti-Israel point of view."
The deputy foreign minister reiterated his plan to create an Israeli channel in Arabic for the Arab World which would broadcast the Israeli viewpoint.
"The war today is a war for public opinion, and this is a war in the fullest sense of the word. We would bring Israeli journalists in order to express the real Israeli perspective."
Last week, a government official told the Jerusalem Post that Foreign Ministry spokespeople were refusing requests to appear on Al-Jazeera because of the heavily biased coverage of the situation in the Gaza Strip.
The official's statement came a day after Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni ripped into the Qatar-based network at a meeting with ambassadors posted in Israel, saying that "when depicting Israeli attacks, Al-Jazeera abuses the situation on the ground by telling lies. Unfortunately, during these attacks, civilians were killed. I am not trying to change facts. But, of course, when it comes to Al-Jazeera, everything is exaggerated."
To support the argument of an Al-Jazeera bias, one Foreign Ministry official quoted from comments senior Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar made last Monday on Hamas's television station, Al-Aksa, saying that "after I thank God, the Praised and the Almighty, I thank the people of the media... specifically the Al-Aksa and Al-Jazeera stations, and all the stations that showed pictures of the pulse of the Palestinian majority."
"Thank you to all those who gave support in presenting the pulse of the Palestinian majority, which says we will resist until the Day of Judgment," he said.
Ministry officials held meetings last week with Al-Jazeera's representatives in Israel, including its bureau chief Walid al-Omary, to discuss the coverage.
The Foreign Ministry has charged that Al-Jazeera was in cahoots with Hamas in broadcasting what Israel believed was a staged candlelight protest that followed a government decision last month to reduce electric and gas supplies to the Gaza Strip.
Omary denied Tuesday that his network was providing anything but a factual picture from Gaza, adding that the network took pains to cover both sides. Indeed, he said, his camera crews were attacked by angry Sderot residents when they went to cover the story in that city last week.
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