Shortly after Israel launched the unprecedented attack on Iran to once and for all remove an existential threat, the Qatari response arrived.
The Qatari government released a press statement expressing "its strong condemnation and deep denunciation of the Israeli attack targeting the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran", adding "the assault is a blatant violation of Iran's sovereignty and security" and urging the international community to take swift action against Israel.
Yes, the same Qatari government that never issued a single statement denouncing Iran's deadly actions in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen, or against Kurdish communities in the Kurdish region in Iraq. The same Qatar that for decades has been financing and giving political backing to the highest-echelon figures of the Muslim Brotherhood, Taliban, and Hamas.
However, its response was in line with the Qatar we all know very well. I have spent more than a decade working for several Qatari media outlets – either full-time for Al-Araby Television Network, or as a freelancer for Al Jazeera, mainly covering the Israeli narrative.
It is vital to point out that the output of Qatari media differs drastically from most media outlets. They are all funded by the Al-Thani royal tribe. They all established, especially Al Jazeera Arabic, to function as a propaganda arm for the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani. To promote his ideological position and Doha's foreign policy. Through giving sympathetic media coverage to causes close to the emir's heart, foremost those promoting a Muslim Brotherhood narrative and support to Hamas and the Ayatollahs in Iran.
Therefore, Al Jazeera giving favorable coverage to the oppressive Iranian regime and one-sided reporting of Israel's war of survival against the Mullahs is not surprising. Since October 7, Al Jazeera has not differed in its coverage and continued with its line that "Israel is wicked evil" and Hamas, who instigated and imposed the war on Israel, is holy.
We can already see a similar line being taken by Al Jazeera's board of directors in covering the recent escalation between Israel and Iran. The network is giving the Mullahs and their supporters a vast platform. It is carefully selecting both Arab and Western academics and experts in line to fit with Doha's position. The coverage is misleading and manipulative, aiming to further incite against the Jewish State.
In the Arab world, the most influential media outlets are either Qatari or Saudi Arabian-Emirati. In Qatari media, the board of directors is headed by Islamists or Pan-Arabists who are affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood organisation. In contrast to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, where the Muslim Brotherhood is proscribed as a terrorist organisation. Therefore, there's a huge gap between Qatari and Saudi-UAE media-led coverage, especially when it comes to Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, Israel, and the current military escalation between Israel and Iran.
The coverage of Saudi-UAE media such as Al-Arabiya, Al Hadath, Dubai TV, and Sharq Al-Awsat is far more balanced, using multiple sources, including Israeli ones, and using a more neutral language. Their journalists are documenting events as they unfold, reporting on a wider spectrum of international reactions, and although these channels also give a platform to Iranian officials and their supporters, they have chosen a cautious angle and often ask their guests challenging and tough questions on-air.
In contrast, Al Jazeera's coverage often uses highly politically charged words with phrases such as "Israel Attacks Iran", "Israel is committing massacres in Iran", or "most Iranian victims are women and children", in addition to inaccurate reporting to mislead the audience, like portraying Iran is heading towards military victory: "Iranian Missiles in Tel Aviv: How have the Rules of the Game Changed?" (published on June 17) or "Israel Rushed Madly Towards its own Self-Destruction" (June 16).
Al Jazeera is following the same hateful tune against Israel and Israelis it has been employing since October 7. In an article published on June 17, titled " You Come from the Sea and You will Leave from it – Large Number of Israelis Fleeing by Sea", the article argues that many Israelis are terrified of the Iranian strikes and are now trying to flee by any means, including hiring private yachts. Describing Israelis in derogatory terms and people who have no roots or connection to the land. The writer of the article adds, "it brings to my mind an older image of settlers arriving by sea to Palestine in 1948".
Also, Qatari media has given an enormous platform to Arab journalists and social media influencers who are prompting what they call "Reverse Migration," meaning Israeli Jews fleeing in large numbers, which, according to them, represents the beginning of the end of the Zionist project.
Al Jazeera is marketing to its audience an Iranian "military might" and its victorious illusions. On its various platforms and on-screen, it invites experts who incite not only against Israel but against Jews in general, to generate more engagement and reach a much wider audience. And it has somehow connected the IDF war against Hamas terrorists in Gaza and the recent escalation between Israel and Iran as one conflict, by portraying the Mullahs of Iran as holy defenders against the "Zionist-aggressive intruders". On a societal level, it is portraying Palestinians and especially Gazans as partisans who remain steadfast to their land, despite what it calls "Zionist aggression" towards the Palestinian people, while depicting Israelis as cowardly occupiers and foreign invaders who are fleeing at the first hint of threat.
They show their audience videos of the so-called "imminent collapse of Israel" with output full of misinformation, highly charged rhetoric, and imagery of the destruction Iran's missiles cause in Tel Aviv and Haifa. The same Al Jazeera that justified the atrocities Hamas committed against Israeli civilians on October 7 and misled its audience by telling them that Hamas is winning the war, and once claimed that Hamas destroyed more than 1,000 IDF military tanks and vehicles.
It reminds me of the reinforcement of false anti-Israel propaganda that Islamists, Arab nationalists, and leftists have been repeating since 1948: the marketing of their victorious illusions and the imminent collapse of the State of Israel. It all takes me back to my early teenage years when my mom first told me about her old life in Baghdad. Her words then and now mirror the fake anti-Israel propaganda Al Jazeera is feeding its audience in 2025. I recall her words: "In 1967, Iraqi media cited Iraqi officials saying that Egypt's air force was in total control of Tel Aviv's sky. Brave Arab soldiers have destroyed Israel's military capability, 'Tel Aviv is burning' and 'it's only a matter of hours before we witness the total annihilation of Israel'."
Even though many are still being persuaded and manipulated by Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated media outlets like Al Jazeera, Al Mayadeen, and London-based Middle East Eye, thankfully, the Arab world is evolving, and many today in our region are awakening to the danger the Ayatollahs and Islamists are posing to them, too. This is evident when one takes a look at Arabic-speaking social media. Arabs, Kurds, and Iranians by the millions are tweeting messages of support and gratitude to the IDF, to the Israeli government, and foremost to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, where an image of him appears with Arabic text reading "We are all with you Abu Yair."
Suzan Quitaz is a Kurdish-Swedish journalist and researcher on Middle Eastern affairs. She was an Israel-based journalist and podcast presenter for an Arabic and English series, "Exposing the Lies – The Voice of Truth from the Middle East" at The Jerusalem Centre for Security and Foreign Affairs.
