Yusuf al-Qaradawi is visiting Hamas, thanks to the Muslim Brotherhood’s takeover of Egypt. Al-Qaradawi is a vicious anti-Semite who is lying about the 3,000-plus-year-old ties of Jews to the land of Israel.
A prominent Islamic scholar who is making a landmark visit to the Gaza Strip has declared that Israel has no right to exist.
Yusuf al-Qaradawi said Thursday that “this land has never once been a Jewish land. Palestine is for the Arab Islamic nation.” The Qatar-based cleric was made famous by his popular TV show and is widely respected in the Muslim world.
The fact that he was hosted by Hamas should twig you to the reality of their wanting to make peace with Israel. What do you say now, Jimmy Carter, about talking to “moderating” Hamas?
By agreeing to accept a state in the West Bank and Gaza, Hamas is demonstrating de facto recognition of Israel.
Yeah, I think not.
But back to the Al Gore connection. Remember the sale of Currents TV to al-Jazeera? Well, who do you think is that network’s number one Islamic cleric? That’s right, it’s al-Qaradawi. And Al Gore thinks that al-Jazeera is an honest-to-goodness news network. I guess a $500 million payoff makes you pretty loose in your definitions if they don’t fit what you want everyone to believe.
“Okay, I knew when I made that decision with my partners—I had obligations to my investors, but that didn’t drive the decision,” Gore said. “I knew that my principle obligation was to do business in a way that makes the world a better place.”
“You have heard me be very critical of American television journalism,” Gore said.
“I think that the addition of a very high-quality, 24-7, honest-to-goodness news channel that covers international news as well as national — that covers climate, that covers poverty, that cover issues that are ignored today — has the potential to be disruptive in a creative and positive way, and raise the game for television journalism here in the United State of America,” he said.
And yay! Al-Jazeera is coming to America, opening 12 “news” bureaus. So even more people can hear this detestable man praise Hitler and call the Holocaust divine punishment on Jews. He says he won’t participate in any interfaith forum that includes Jews. And his religious institute uses the anti-Semitic forgery “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”
This is the cleric that is featured prominently on al-Jazeera, and, like the mythical “military wing” and “political wing” of terrorist organizations, al-Jazeera’s cheerleaders like to pretend that the Arabic version of the channel won’t influence the American version.
But Al Jazeera English, the spinoff channel launched in 2006, doesn’t have the same reputation. In fact, no less a figure than Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has praised it as “real news,” and the channel has won journalism awards for its reporting on the Arab Spring and other global events.
To be sure, the main Al Jazeera network gives a platform to such figures as Yusuf al-Qaradawi. He’s the Muslim cleric in Egypt who, The Washington Post gas reported, frequently appears on air to castigate Jews and America and has praised suicide bombings. But when I went to the home page of Al Jazeera English the other day, there was video of David Frost, the acclaimed British journalist who now works for the main network, interviewing Israeli President Shimon Peres.
Why Gore sold Current to Al JazeeraThat’s not to say Al Jazeera America, the working name for the new channel, won’t have its own biases. Al Jazeera English is sometimes determined to paint the U.S. in a negative light.
Keep telling yourself that, guys. In the meantime, it’s pretty clear that al-Qaradawi is a Jew-hater. And any network that gives prominence to a Jew-hater is guilty by association.
Think I’ll go write to Verizon and tell them I’m dumping them if they keep al-Jazeera.