US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has asked the Qatari government to “tone down Al-Jazeera’s rhetoric” about Israel’s war in Gaza, the US-based news website Axios reported on Wednesday.
According to Axios, Blinken, who was apparently referring to Al-Jazeera Arabic and not to the English channel, made the comments during a meeting with American Jewish leaders last Monday.
Al-Jazeera's host bursts into tears as he announces the news of the tragic killing of the son, daughter, wife and several grandchildren of his colleague Wael al-Dahdouh in an Israeli airstrike in Central Gaza.
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— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) October 25, 2023
Axios mentions a participant in the meeting as saying that Blinken asked the Qatari government to “turn down the volume on Al Jazeera’s coverage because it is full of anti-Israel incitement.”
According to Axios, both the US State Department and the Qatari Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the report.
Our condolences to Wael al-Dahdouh for the tragic loss of his family. pic.twitter.com/AX8XTOIJzl
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) October 25, 2023
Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 23 Palestinian journalists since the beginning of the war on October 7.
On October 25, the entire family of Wael al-Dahdouh, Al-Jazeera bureau chief in Gaza, was massacred in an Israeli bombing of a residential building in the Nuseirat refugee camp.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
