After exposing the involvement of six Al Jazeera journalists in terrorism, the IDF has now revealed additional documents indicating close cooperation between Hamas and the network—ranging from prohibiting the channel from criticizing the organization, to concealing incidents of failed rocket launches, and even establishing a secure communication line between Hamas and the Qatari-owned Al Jazeera news outlet.
Hamas directs Al Jazeera's media coverage to serve its own interests, preventing the public in Gaza and around the world from discovering the truth about its crimes against Gazan civilians.
Think twice before using Al Jazeera as a “reliable” source. pic.twitter.com/F28FoY4V8W
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 24, 2024
In a 2022 document, Hamas describes how it provided Al Jazeera with clear instructions on covering a failed Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket launch in Jabaliya, which resulted in the deaths of several civilians. The instructions included avoiding the use of the word “massacre” to describe the event, reducing the display of images from the incident, and ensuring that panel members did not criticize Hamas.
Another document from the same year reveals the instructions Hamas gave to journalist Tamer Almisshall regarding his coverage of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad during Operation “Breaking Dawn” on his program “More Hidden than Revealed“.
The instructions were to support the “resistance” in Gaza and to prevent any criticism of the Islamic Jihad’s rocket capabilities, in light of the high number of failed launches.
A 2023 document shows that Hamas decided to establish an “Al Jazeera Phone” — a secure line that would allow the organization to communicate with the channel in a classified manner and during emergencies.
The documents reveal how Hamas directs Al Jazeera’s media coverage to serve its own interests, preventing the public in Gaza and around the world from discovering the truth about its crimes against Gazan civilians.
A Complex Web
The Al Jazeera media network is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in the Qatari capital, Doha, and funded in part by the government of Qatar, according to a statement on the news outlet’s website. But it is also relevant to note that the international political bureau of the Hamas terrorist organization is headquartered in Doha, where the group’s highest-ranking leaders live in the lap of luxury.
Despite that relationship — or perhaps because of it — Qatar has been a key “mediator” together with Egypt and the United States in the year-long negotiations for a hostage release and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. Each of the three parties involved as “mediators” have a conflict of interest in their self-appointed positions, and the relationship between the trio is deep and complex.
The United States has a long and lucrative relationship with Qatar, making it difficult for Washington to advocate on behalf of Israel in the talks. The largest American air base in the Middle East is hosted by Qatar, with some 5,000 US servicemembers deployed at the site, in addition to multiple, significant defense and economic agreements between the two countries.
Egypt also has a lucrative relationship with Qatar. In March 2022, Qatar and Egypt signed investments contracts worth more than $5 billion.
Egypt also has a complex relationship with Hamas. For years Cairo has chosen to turn a blind eye to the dozens of smuggling tunnels reaching between Gaza and Egypt along the border with Sinai. Those tunnels — as well as the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt — were used to “import” advanced Iranian and other weapons, in addition to terrorist operatives, cash, drugs and luxury items intended for Hamas, despite repeated promises to block and destroy such terrorist infrastructure. The reason is simple: at the Egyptian end of the tunnels, a hefty “export” tax was levied on the goods, paid to Egyptian officials. At the Gaza end of the tunnels, another “tax” was imposed on those receiving the goods. The arrangement was a financial “win-win” for both Egypt and Hamas.
After Israel began its ground operation following the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, Gazans who wanted to flee the enclave via the Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Egypt were required to pay thousands of dollars per person for the privilege, payable to an Egyptian official who controlled the “list” of those allowed to enter Egypt from Gaza. Dual US-Gaza citizens were among those forced to pay that fee.
Once Israeli forces succeeded in wresting control over the Rafah Crossing and the Philadelphi Corridor — the strip of land between Gaza and Egypt intended as a “buffer zone” that instead became a transit zone — Egypt shut down its side of the crossing and refused to reopen it, despite requests from the US, until Israel ended its control over the passage, and for that matter, over Gaza territory altogether. For obvious reasons, that is a non-starter, and the Rafah Crossing remains closed.
Keeping Gazans at arm’s length creates wartime photo ops in the enclave, which is politically expedient for Egypt, as it increases the pressure on Israel and on the United States to cave on Hamas demands. Egypt also has no interest in allowing a flood of Gazans into its territory, where the Cairo government has for years been struggling to control terrorist activity from myriad other groups.
Nevertheless, according to a statement on the website of the US State Department, “Egypt is a valued US partner in counterterrorism, anti-trafficking, and regional security operations, which advance both US and Egyptian security. The decades-long defense partnership is a pillar for regional stability.”
Both Qatar and Egypt have consistently advocated for an Israeli surrender to terms set forth by Hamas as a means of freeing the hostages abducted during the invasion and massacre of 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, by the terrorist organization.
The United States has likewise chosen to pressure the Israeli government rather than to exert pressure on its negotiating partners as a means of pressuring Hamas. A surrender to the terms set forth by Hamas would leave Israel profoundly vulnerable to future repeated attempts by the terror organization to annihilate the Jewish State. Again, a non-starter.
