Elizabeth Tsurkov@LizHurra
The tone of al-Jazeera's coverage this war is fundamentally different from the 12 Day War. During that war, the Qatari-run network glorified & hyped up Iran's achievements in the war, and downplayed its losses. For example, their reporter in Tehran, Nour a-Deen Dgheir, claimed that the US was able to carry out operation Midnight Hammer without any aircraft lost because the US sent drones to keep Iranian air defenses busy...
Now that Qatar is getting attacked, the tone is different. In response to Iranian threats to occupy lands of Arab Gulf countries if the US occupies the Kharg Island, AJ's top commentator Dr. Liqaa' Makki, simply points out Iran doesn't have the ability to do so.
youtube.com/watch?v=24ECj4…
In the current war, as can be seen in the clip attached, the coverage is critical of Iranian attacks on the Gulf, presenting them as serving Israel's interests in getting Gulf countries involved in the war against Iran. AJ, which for decades reported, without question, the claims of the entire Iranian Axis that it does not target civilians, now calls out Iranian lies, saying civilian infrastructure and civilians are being harmed in the Gulf.
Since its establishment, AJ served as an amplifier for the propaganda pushed by Islamist groups and regimes, whether Sunni groups like AQ and Hamas or regimes like the new Syrian one or Turkey, or Shia militias backed by Iran and the Iranian regime itself. AJ staffed its roster of commentators with supporters of the Iranian Axis, like Palestinian Saeed Ziad and Jordanian Fatema a-Sumadi. These two commentators and others have disappeared from the screen and social media, and at least Ziad has been arrested by Qatari intelligence, likely ahead of deportation back to Turkey.
More on Ziad, who aroused fury among Gazans for saying they have no choice but to keep resisting with the "flesh of their children"
x.com/LizHurra/statu…
More on a-Sumadi x.com/DrSASAIRAQ/sta…
AJ's shift is a reflection of Qatar's repositioning after it became the target of Iranian attacks, but this change in tone matters in the wider Middle East. AJ is the most widely watched news channel in the Middle East. AJ is particularly watched by supporters of "resistance," and over the past 2 years, served as a source of comfort and wishful analysis for supporters of this Axis, as it suffered a blow after blow.