Qatari-owned news channel Al-Araby Al-Jadeed launched from London on January 25, coinciding with the fourth anniversary of Egypt’s 2011 uprising that led to the overthrow of former President Hosni Mubarak and the installation of a Muslim Brotherhood regime in Cairo.
The network tried to launch months earlier from Egypt, but was shut down days later after the Egyptian government accused Al-Araby Al-Jadeed of being a replica of Al Jazeera, which has long been accused of holding pro-Muslim Brotherhood bias.
Al-Araby Al-Jadeed’s CEO is Islam Lofty, who Al Bawaba reports is a “former” member of the Muslim Brotherhood. The director of the new TV channel will be Ahmed Zein, who previously headed an Al Jazeera station in Egypt, according to the report.
Breitbart News has documented several instances within the past week in which the Al-Araby Al-Jadeed website casts the Muslim Brotherhood in a favorable light. Breitbart News was unable to find any instances where the government of the network’s host-country Qatar was criticized (emphasis added in bold).
Sisi must identify the real extremists to save Egypt, February 2:
The state of Egypt today might be due to a fixation with the political threat posed by the Muslim Brotherhood. Decision-makers seem unable to identify the real enemy and instead blame almost all violence on the moderate Islamists.”
Egypt Deports jailed Australian reporter Greste, February 1:
“The broadcaster had been critical of the deadly crackdown on Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement following the Islamist leader’s overthrow.”
Greste’s release sets social media ablaze, February 1
“The award-winning al-Jazeera English journalist was held on charges of being part of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was designated a terrorist group after a military coup in July 2013 ousted the elected president, Mohammad Morsi, a leader of the movement’s political party.”
Egypt at a post-revolution nadie, says rights group, January 31:
Sisi, the former army chief, lead a coup against the Muslim Brotherhood-backed president, Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, and was elected president in 2014.”
Rights abuses ‘fuelled’ rise of militants, January 29:
“Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were criticised for their support for Sisi, as well as for their own internal crackdowns on dissent. HRW said that the two Gulf monarchies were “terrified” of the Muslim Brotherhood as it provides an alternative, apparently democratic, Islamic form of rule to the absolute autocracies in both countries.”
Shadi Salahuddin, who works for Egypt’s Middle East News Agency, told the BBC about his suspicions regarding the new network.
“Would they be able to criticize Qatar policy? The Arab audiences are not gullible anymore,” said Salahuddin, adding that “they are just like Al-Jazeera.”
The BBC report noted that the new media entity’s stances closely resemble “Qatar’s policies in the Middle East.”
Even Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has weighed in on Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, describing the network’s purpose as “targeting Egyptian stability.”
Al Jazeera, which many have alleged the new media venture is modeling itself after, has often been accused of heavy pro-Muslim Brotherhood bias. In 2013, dozens of staff resigned in protest of Al Jazeera’s “biased coverage” in favor of the Brotherhood.
The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna, a staunch Hitler admirer who sought to install a worldwide Sunni Islamic Caliphate. Some of the world’s most infamous terrorists — including Al Qaeda’s Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, and the Islamic State’s Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi — were once members of the Brotherhood. The slogan of the Muslim Brotherhood reads: “The Prophet is our leader. The Koran is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope. Allahu Akbar.”
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