Doha - Al Jazeera‘s support for terrorism goes far beyond on-air cheerleading. Many of its employees have actively supported Al Qaeda, Hamas and other terrorist groups. In fact, concerns over the network's consistent pro-terrorist positions prompted several Gulf States to demand that Qatar shut the network down in June. Sheikh Said Bin Ahmed Al-Thani, director of Qatar's government information office, called such demands "a condescending view [that] demonstrates contempt for the intelligence and judgment of the people of the Middle East, who overwhelmingly choose to get their news from Al Jazeera rather than from their state-run broadcasters," in Newsweek. But a week earlier, United Arab Emirates Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash detailed Al Jazeera‘s connections to terrorists and terror incitement in a letter to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Al Jazeera constantly violates a 2005 UN Security Council resolution that called on member states to counter "incitement of terrorist acts motivated by extremism," Gargash charged. The network has given a platform to terrorists such as Osama bin Laden, Hamas leaders Khaled Meshaal and Mohammed Deif, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and others, Gargash wrote. "These have not simply been topical interviews of the kind that other channels might run; [Al] Jazeera has presented opportunities for terrorist groups to threaten, recruit and incite without challenge or restraint," Gargash claimed.
