Al Jazeera is coming to America, courtesy of former Vice President Al Gore and entrepreneur Joel Hyatt. The Arab network, funded by Qatar, has just bought Current TV — the low-rated liberal cable station Gore and Hyatt founded — for a reported $500 million. The deal gives the anti-Israeli Arab network access to 40 million homes in the United States.
{mosads}Beyond bringing anti-Israeli propaganda into these new American outlets, Al Jazeera has a long record as the chosen news outlet for al Qaeda and other terrorist cells. It was through them that Osama bin Laden would regularly post videos attacking the West and calling for renewed acts of terror. Having this network available in the U.S. might also afford terrorist groups a new method of communicating with one another. At the very least, it will help whip up enthusiasm among Islamic viewers in America for jihadist terrorism. Some fear that its message will actually cause an uptick in domestic terrorism.
To its credit, Time Warner Cable announced that it will cancel its contract with Current so it will not have to show Al Jazeera’s propaganda on its system. Their action keeps the station off 12.5 million homes. Thank you, Time Warner.
Gore, who consistently postured himself as a friend of Israel, shows now how unreliable the Jewish State’s “friends” are when the chips — or the money — is down. It is estimated that Gore, who owns 20 percent of Current TV, will get $100 million for his share from the deal. Media reports indicate that the former VP was eager to close the deal before the higher income tax rates he supported kicked in on Jan. 1.
Indeed, it was the height of hypocrisy that Al Gore spoke warmly of Al Jazerra, saying its mission was similar to that of Current TV, to give “voice to those who are not typically heard, to speak truth to power, to provide independent and diverse points of view and to tell the stories that no one else is telling.”
Among these “diverse” points of view might be terrorists’. Fox News reports that “Al-Jazeera has been criticized for having a pro-Islamist bent, and accused of working with members of Al Qaeda.” Fox noted that “one of its journalists was arrested in Israel in 2011 on suspicion of being an agent of the Palestinian group Hamas.”
Not that Current TV is a world-beater. Its average prime time viewership is about 42,000 households. But, it remains to be seen if the pro-Israel former governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer, will continue with the network under the new management. And the Islamist bias of the new network might pose a problem for women’s rights advocates such as former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who also hosts a prime time show on Current TV.
Thanks to “friends” of Israel like Gore and Hyatt, the Islamist movement has a new voice in the U.S.
Morris, a former adviser to Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and President Bill Clinton, is the author including 2010: Take Back America — A Battle Plan and Outrage, Fleeced and Catastrophe. To get all of his and Eileen McGann’s columns for free by email or to order a signed, advanced copy of his latest book Revolt!, go to dickmorris.com.