Twist in the tale

It was not long ago that Al Jazeera was labelled by the Arabs as a Zionist conspiracy. The station was, after all, the first Arabic news channel to label Israel on a map and interview its officials at a time when any hint of further normalisation of Arab relations with the Jewish state was taboo.

That was a long-awaited foreign policy achievement for Israel. But the channel and the state have had a turbulent love-hate relationship since — one that reflects the extraordinary role that news channels play in this volatile region today.

Competition among channels and a move by foreign governments to start their own Arabic news channels have seen to it that Israeli officials now have to juggle their time between Arabic news channels.

Al Jazeera has realised this. But more importantly, Israel has, too. In March, after years of Israeli complaints about Al Jazeera's perceived anti-Israel coverage, the Israeli foreign ministry finally made the risky move of boycotting the channel for what it considered to be a pro-Hamas bias.

Israeli officials and analysts dismissed the decision as counter-productive.

Raanan Gissin, an Israeli analyst and former government adviser who has appeared on the channel several times, told the Israeli daily Ynet that by boycotting Al Jazeera, Israel would be “leaving the stage open to only one opinion''.

“Will they stop broadcasting [anti-Israel content] if we boycott?'' he asked. Al Jazeera, he said, was essential for Israel to reach “a billion Muslims''.

One month later, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni came out of a meeting with the Al Jazeera management in Doha with what the media called an “understanding'' and the boycott was lifted.

Israel tried its luck again in July when Daniel Seaman from its press office declared that all ties with Al Jazeera would be cut after the channel threw an on-air party for the release of long-held Lebanese prisoner Samir Kantar from an Israeli prison as part of a prisoner exchange between Hezbollah and Israel.

Al Jazeera responded by issuing a statement by its director-general, Wadah Khanfar, that “various elements'' of the programme violated the channel's code of ethics, which it considered “serious'', and he promised to avoid any such violations in the future.

“This letter is a great achievement for Israel,'' says Yoav Stern, Arab affairs correspondent for Israeli daily Haaretz.

“Al Jazeera set a precedent ... I'm not sure if this is a change in Al Jazeera's attitude towards Israel but I don't remember that Al Jazeera gave a clarification to any Arab regime or met an Arab foreign minister in the past,'' he says.

Al Jazeera's anti-Israel content has been toned down since 9/11. The custom-made anti-Israel clips showing Palestinian suffering have been phased out amid American pressure to curb “incitement'' and the emergence of competing news channels trying to present a neutral perspective on the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Recent moves by the channel in Israel's favour have, nonetheless, surprised analysts, who did not expect it to succumb to Israel's demands after years of defying pressures from Arab countries.

Although Arab media analyst Jamal Dajani agrees that Al Jazeera set a precedent that Arab states could use to punish it in the future, he says the station was not left with any option short of losing the privilege of operating in the West bank, Gaza and Israel.

“Al Jazeera perhaps can afford being kicked out of Jordan but it cannot afford to lose ground in Israel and Palestine,'' he says.

This has also raised the question whether Al Jazeera is as important for Israel today as it used to be several years ago.

Dajani says it is not a zero-sum game. While Al Jazeera de facto guarantees Israel direct access to millions of Arab households, it wants the Jewish state to allow its reporters to move freely in return.

Israel/Palestine, he adds, is perhaps the “hottest spot'' for journalists in the world.

Stern doesn't dismiss the possibility that Al Jazeera's overtures to Israel could have to do with the cosying relations between Qatar and Israel but points out that unlike Arab states, Israel has formed a direct and independent relationship with the channel.

Al Jazeera has, however, also toned down its perceived anti-Saudi coverage since the 2007 Qatari-Saudi rapprochement — in return for the resumption of full diplomatic ties between the two Gulf states — and Saudi Arabia's nod for the opening of an Al Jazeera bureau in Riyadh.

Al Jazeera's bowing to Saudi and Israeli demands, analysts say, shows the role media outlets play as foreign extensions of the governments and political groups that run them.

After an Iranian channel aired a documentary earlier this year labelling the late Egyptian president Anwar Sadat a pharaoh for normalising ties with Israel, angry Egyptian authorities closed the offices of the Islamic republic's Arabic language Al Aalam news channel.

Regional governments often arm-twist news outlets to stop criticising and humiliating them, which, some say has led to the polarisation of media organisations that is hurting their credibility.

As'ad Abu Khalil of the California State University at Stanislaus says Arab media outlets are drifting towards the “Saudi alliance''.

“Al Jazeera is moving slowly but surely towards the Saudi view in the wake of the reconciliation between Qatar and Saudi rulers,'' he says.

“More than 85 per cent of Arab TV media [is] owned by the Saudi royal family and its affiliates''.

The advocacy-like status of Arabic news channels, analysts say, is perhaps why some channels are better known for being in the news rather than reporting it.

A number of news channels in the region have been targeted by opposing states and political groups seeing the station as an arm of the adversary.

Throughout the 34-day war on Hezbollah in 2006, Israel made it a priority to destroy the group's communication infrastructure, starting with its television channel Al Manar, but failed to knock it off the air.

During the recent Hezbollah takeover of Beirut, supporters of the Shiite group burnt down the headquarters of the opposition Future Movement's television station in a show of strength and intimidation.

Party to celebrate Samir Kantar's birthday

Complete with firecrackers and a live band, Al Jazeera's Beirut bureau chief Gassan Bin Jeddo celebrated the birthday of freed Lebanese prisoner Samir Kantar just a few days following his release from an Israeli prison.

Kantar was the longest-held Arab prisoner in an Israeli jail until he was freed in a prisoner exchange between Hezbollah and Israel in July. Kantar was serving five life sentences in Israel for the killing of Israelis almost 30 years ago.

“Samir, we want to celebrate your birthday with you. You deserve even more than this,'' Bin Jeddo said before Kantar cut the cake with what Bin Jeddo called “the sword of the Arabs''.

The party sparked controversy in Israel and internationally, following which the Israeli government's press office decided to cut ties with Al Jazeera.