US Secretary of State Tony Blinken asked the Qatari prime minister to tone down Al-Jazeera’s rhetoric about the war in Gaza one week after Israel’s bombing campaign began, Axios reported on 25 October.
Blinken revealed the request when speaking with a group of American Jewish community leaders on Monday, according to three people who attended the meeting.
Blinken said he asked the Qataris during a visit to Doha on 13 October to “turn down the volume on Al Jazeera’s coverage because it is full of anti-Israel incitement,” according to one source speaking with Axios.
Blinken didn’t give any examples of the heightened rhetoric he asked to be dialed back.
Footage appearing on Al-Jazeera has vividly shown the effects of Israel’s devastating bombing campaign on Gaza, which has destroyed entire neighborhoods, hospitals, schools and markets. Israeli bombing has killed 6,546 Palestinians, including 2,360 children, in the three weeks since Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on 7 October.
The Al-Jazeera satellite news channel is funded by the Qatari government and has a wide audience in the Sunni Arab world. Critics say its coverage reflects the foreign policy position of Qatar, which is a close ally of the United States, but also funds Hamas.
Meanwhile, Al-Jazeera said the wife, son and daughter of one of its correspondents in Gaza were killed on Wednesday night in an Israeli air strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp that killed at least 25 people, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Al-Jazeera said the correspondent, Wael al-Dahdouh, had moved his family to Nuseirat from their home in northern Gaza after Israel warned residents to move south ahead of an expected Israeli ground invasion.
On Sunday, Israel killed Palestinian journalist Roshdi Sarraj when it launched an air strike on the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood in Gaza City,
According to the local WAFA news agency, the bombing of Tel al-Hawa was among many raids the Israeli army carried out in Gaza that day, killing at least 32 Palestinians.
Roshdi’s apartment was damaged in the first week of the war prompting him to take his wife Shorouq and one-year-old daughter Dania to their extended family home in Tel al-Hawa.
“The Israelis were bombing our area with no let-up,” said Yahya al-Sarraj, Roshdi’s father and municipal mayor of Gaza City. “Roshdi tried to shield his wife and daughter when the Israeli air raid struck.”
Israel has killed 22 Palestinian journalists in Gaza since the beginning of the conflict.