Al Jazeera seeks “provocation” after boycott

CAIRO – 12 June 2017: The recently-designated as terrorist, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, might soon make a come back appearance on the Qatar-sponsored Al Jazeera Network in a move deemed “provocatory” by observers.

Anonymous sources revealed that the leading figure of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, Qaradawi, who is currently based in Doha, will host a TV program on the controversial network.

Qaradawi is among 58 individuals labeled “terrorists” by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Former Brotherhood leader, Tariq el-Beshbeshy, described such move as “provocative response” from Qatar after several countries’ severed or lowered diplomatic ties with it.
Commenting on the expected re-appearance of Qaradawi on the Qatari-based network, Beshbeshy added that “Al Jazeera is curious to host figures that advocate instability and incitement in the region.”

Following Egypt’s footsteps, Saudi Arabia and Jordan closed the Qatari channel bureaus and blocked its website. Hotels in Saudi Arabia are banned to air the network.
Repeatedly faced accusations of provoking violence and separatist movements in the region, Al Jazeera’s future is believed to be uncertain following the ongoing escalation of Qatar crisis with Egypt and Gulf countries.

Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain as well as other Arab and non-Arab countries announced they are severing relations with Qatar over its alleged support for terrorism, closing their airspace and seaports for Qatari transportation.

Al Jazeera is accused by Saudi Arabia and its allies of promoting unrest across the Middle East. They Accuse the channel of providing a propaganda platform to militants in Syria and rebels across the region, who seek to rise up against their governments.

Following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre in the U.S. on September 11, 2001, Qatar’s former Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani decided that Qatar should have a more powerful position on the region, and saw the network as a way to project its influence abroad.

In a Sunday report, the British newspaper The Telegraph said that “Qatar’s neighbours have hated Al Jazeera for 20 years.”

Financial Times said that years before the January 25 Revolution in 2011, former Egypt Hosni Mubarak visited Al Jazeera office in Doha, describing it as a “little matchbox, making all that trouble.”

The network was banned completely in Egypt in 2013 and its journalists have been regularly arrested and expelled by governments from Palestine to Saudi Arabia to Iraq.