Ana Belén Soage-Antepazo has criticized Al Jazeera for what she describes as its "bias," noting a "certain disregard toward religious minorities." She argues that the network primarily seeks to appeal to Muslims, particularly Sunni Muslims.[146]
Israeli–Palestinian conflict
During the Second Intifada, Palestinians killed by Israelis were referred to as "martyrs"; Israelis killed by Palestinians were not.[147]
Israel announced a "boycott" of the Arabic broadcaster on 13 March 2008, accusing it of bias in its coverage of the Gaza Strip conflict and toward Hamas.[148] Israeli government employees declined interviews and denied visa applications for the organization's staff. Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Majalli Wahabi accused it of focusing on Palestinian suffering and ignoring that of Israel: "We have seen that Al-Jazeera has become part of Hamas ... [sic] taking sides and cooperating with people who are enemies of the state of Israel."[148] According to Israeli officials, Al-Jazeera covered the Gaza incursion but not Palestinian rocket attacks against the Israeli city of Ashkelon. Wahabi said that the Israeli Foreign Ministry would send letters of complaint to the organization and the Qatari government. Officials of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party has accused Al-Jazeera of bias toward Hamas (with which it is at political loggerheads), and Fatah official Mohammed Dahlan sued the broadcaster.[149][150][62][151][152][153] Al-Jazeera agreed to discuss its coverage of Mideast conflict, and the issue has apparently been settled.[154]
In February 2009, Israel again imposed sanctions on Al Jazeera after Qatar closed the Israeli trade office in Doha in protest against the Gaza War. Israel had considered declaring Al Jazeera a hostile entity and shutting its Israeli offices, but after a legal review the Israeli government decided to impose limited measures restricting the organization's activities in the country. All Al Jazeera employees would not have their visas renewed, and the Israeli government would issue no new visas. Al Jazeera staff would not be allowed to attend government briefings; its access to government and military offices was reduced, and it could not interview Knesset members. The organization would only have access to three agencies: representatives of the Prime Minister's Office, the Foreign Ministry, and the IDF Spokesperson's Unit.[155]
On 15 July of that year, the Palestinian National Authority (PA) closed down Al Jazeera's offices in the West Bank in an apparent response to claims made on the channel by Farouk Kaddoumi that PA president Mahmoud Abbas had been involved in the death of Yasser Arafat. The Palestinian Information Ministry called the organization's coverage "unbalanced" and accused it of incitement against the PLO and the PA.[156] Four days later, Abbas rescinded the ban and allowed Al Jazeera to resume operations.[157]
In August 2011, Afghan bureau chief Samer Allawi was arrested by Israeli authorities and charged with being a member of Hamas.[158] Walied Al-Omary, Al Jazeera bureau chief in Israel and the Palestinian territories, said that a military court accused Allawi of making contact with members of Hamas' armed wing.[159] The Committee to Protect Journalists Middle East and North Africa program coordinator Mohamed Abdel Dayem stated that "Israel must clarify why it continues to hold Samer Allawi."[160][161] Allawi was imprisoned for over a month and fined $1,400 after pleading guilty to meeting with Hamas, a militant group viewed as terrorist by Israel and most of the West.[162][163][164]
During the Gaza war, Al Jazeera was conducting an interview with a wounded Gazan resident, who blamed Hamas hiding amongst civilians for his wounds; Al Jazeera promptly ended the interview.[169][170][171]
Al Jazeera has also been accused of pushing Hamas propaganda, repeatedly broadcasting statements by Hamas' military and political leaders calling for a broader uprising and aligning themselves closely with Hamas' preferred language for the conflict.[172] In addition, Israel accused several journalists of Al Jazeera of assisting or commanding Hamas units in their fight against Israel.[173][174]
Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa was killed by an Israeli airstrike on 15 December 2023 targeting Al Jazeera bureau chief Wael Al-Dahdouh, who was also injured during the strike.[175][176][177]
In December 2023, a woman said that all aid to Gaza was taken to Hamas tunnels, prompting the Al Jazeera journalist to say “people say that only a little aid gets in and is distributed,” to which the woman said on the aid that “It all goes to their houses. Let Hamas take me or shoot me.”, according to Jpost this prompted the journalist to end the interview.[70]
The IDF accused one of Al Jazeera's journalists in Gaza of being a deputy commander for Hamas and released images of him handling various weaponry.[178][179]
In late March 2024, Al Jazeera published a story alleging that IDF soldiers had committed rape at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza. After an investigation by Hamas, it was found that the story was fabricated by a Gazan woman who wanted to "arouse the nation's favor". Subsequently, Al Jazeera removed all relevant material and its former managing director Yasser Hilalah admitted the story was "fabricated".[180][181]
In June 2024, after the rescue of 4 Israeli hostages in Gaza, it was revealed that some hostages had been held captive by a man who worked for the Palestine Chronicle and had also written an op-ed for Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera denied this.[182] Later, after the Nuseirat rescue and massacre, The Jerusalem Post reported that Arab social media went viral as an uncut version of a video circulated online. In the uncut video, the doctor in the video heavily criticized Hamas, Al Jazeera was criticized for censoring the criticism of Hamas.[70] The Forward described its coverage of the Gaza war as "Hamas-sympathetic" in 2025.[183]
On 21 October 2025, the IDF and Israeli Intelligence said that they had uncovered documents in Gaza that they alleged connected Hamas directly to Al Jazeera.[184] In the recovered documents the IDF allege Hamas attempted to set up a direct line with the Al Jazeera offices in Doha.[185] This news comes almost a year after the IDF recovered documents they allege proved six Al Jazeera journalists were Hamas fighters. Al Jazeera has rejected these claims.[186]
The Lobby
Journalist Armin Rosen of the American Jewish magazine Tablet published an article on 20 January 2017 saying that pro-Palestinian filmmaker and undercover Al Jazeera reporter James Anthony Kleinfeld had infiltrated several pro-Israel advocacy organizations in Washington, D.C., including StandWithUs, the Israel Project, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, the Israel on Campus Coalition, and the Zionist Organization of America's (ZOA) Fuel For Truth. According to the article, Kleinfeld had also infiltrated pro-Israel organizations and circles in the United Kingdom (the subject of an Al Jazeera documentary that month).[187] As an undercover journalist, Kleinfield had reportedly obtained work at several pro-Israel organizations, interviewed dozens of Jewish pro-Israel activists, had access to donors, hosted Israeli embassy officials at his home, and filmed dozens of hours of video. Kleinfield left Washington suddenly in January 2017, around the time that Al Jazeera broadcast The Lobby: a four-part documentary series which used undercover journalism to infiltrate several pro-Israel advocacy groups in the United Kingdom.[188]
On 11 October 2017, Al Jazeera admitted that it had installed an undercover journalist in several Washington-based pro-Israel organizations the previous year and was planning to air a documentary film based on the reporter's work.
Palestinian Authority
In December 2024, Fatah, which controls the Palestinian Authority, condemned Al Jazeera's coverage of its clashes with militant groups in the Jenin refugee camp. Accusing the network of fostering division "in our Arab homeland in general and in Palestine in particular", Fatah urged Palestinians to refrain from cooperating with Al Jazeera.[204] Al Jazeera was subsequently banned from broadcasting within the West Bank.[205]
Antisemitism
An article by Sherry Ricchiardi in the American Journalism Review (AJR) noted that critics of Al Jazeera have "assailed what they see as anti-Semitic, anti-American bias in the channel's news content."[206] Ricchiardi had earlier criticized an Al Jazeera report that Jewish employees of 9/11 targets were informed of the attacks beforehand, a report which was also criticized in an October 2001 New York Times editorial. She cited the former Al Jazeera weekly show Sharia and Life, hosted by Yusuf Qaradawi (an Egyptian cleric who "argues clearly and consistently that hatred of Israel and Jews is Islamically sanctioned").[207] The organization held a 2008 on-air birthday party for Samir Kuntar, a Lebanese terrorist convicted of killing four Israelis who was released in July of that year, later admitting that its coverage of Kuntar's release violated its code of ethics.[208] The organization's Beirut bureau chief said, "Brother Samir, we wish to celebrate your birthday with you" and called him a "pan-Arab hero."[209]
Alleged pro-Qatar bias
Al Jazeera was founded in 1996 as part of Qatari efforts to turn economic power into political influence in the Arab world and beyond, and continues to receive political and financial backing from the government of Qatar.[220][221][222] As a result, Al Jazeera has been criticized for being Qatari state media.[223][224][225][226][227]
Islamist position
Since Al Jazeera's founding in 1996, its Islamist skew grew stronger and damaged Qatar's political relations with its neighboring states of Saudi Arabia and Egypt.[222] According to Hugh Miles writing for the BBC in 2013, "Al-Jazeera network remains the standard bearer for the Islamist position."[220]
Satellite disruption
During the 2010 FIFA World Cup opening game, Al Jazeera Sports' transmission to the Arab world went down without explanation in the first half; second-half transmission was patchy. Al Jazeera and FIFA said that they were working to figure out the cause of the disruption of Al Jazeera's broadcast rights.[247] According to a report in The Guardian, evidence indicated jamming by the Jordanian government.[248]
Death of Tareq Ayyoub
Al Jazeera's Baghdad office was hit by a missile fired by an American ground-attack aircraft on 8 April 2003, killing reporter Tareq Ayyoub and wounding another person.[249] Al Jazeera reported that it had mailed the coordinates of its office to the US State Department six weeks earlier.[250] The New York Times reported on 30 January 2005 that the Qatari government, under pressure from the Bush administration, was planning to sell Al Jazeera.[251]
Bombing memo
The UK tabloid Daily Mirror reported on 22 November 2005 that it had obtained a leaked memo from 10 Downing Street that US President George W. Bush had considered bombing Al Jazeera's Doha headquarters in April 2004, when United States Marines were conducting a contentious assault on Fallujah.[252]
Detention of Sami al-Hajj
Al Jazeera cameraman Sami al-Hajj, a Sudanese national, was detained en route to Afghanistan in December 2001 and held without charge as an enemy combatant in Camp Delta of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp until May 2008. The reasons for his detention remain unknown, although the official US position on all detainees is that they are security threats. Reporters Without Borders repeatedly expressed concern about al-Hajj's detention,[253] mentioning him in its annual Press Freedom Index[254] and circulating a petition for his release.[255]
Clive Stafford Smith, al-Hajj's lawyer, reported on 23 November 2005 that US officials had asked his client in 125 of 130 interviews if Al Jazeera was a front for al-Qaeda.[256] After his release, al-Hajj expressed plans to sue US President George W. Bush for his treatment at Guantanamo.[257]
"The Dark Side: Secrets of the Sports Dopers"
Al Jazeera English and Al Jazeera America broadcast "The Dark Side: Secrets of the Sports Dopers", an episode of Al Jazeera Investigates examining professional athletes' possible use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), on 27 December 2015. Peyton Manning and other prominent athletes were identified as having received drugs from Charles Sly, a pharmacist who had worked at the Guyer Anti-Aging Clinic in Indianapolis in the fall of 2011.[259][260][261]
The Huffington Post leaked the episode a day before Al Jazeera's broadcast.[262] In a Sunday NFL Countdown interview with ESPN's Lisa Salters on the morning of 27 December, Manning called the documentary "completely fabricated" and "garbage" and expressed anger about his wife being mentioned in the story.
Website attacks
Immediately after its launch in 2003, the English site was attacked by one or several hackers, who launched denial-of-service attacks, and another hacker who redirected visitors to a site featuring a Flag of the United States.[272][273] Both events were widely reported as Al Jazeera's website having been attacked by "hackers".[274] In November 2003, John William Racine II, also known as 'John Buffo', was sentenced to 1,000 hours of community service and a $1,500 U.S. fine for the online disruption. Racine posed as an Al Jazeera employee to get a password to the network's site, then redirected visitors to a page he created that showed an American flag shaped like a U.S. map and a patriotic motto, court documents said.[275] In June 2003, Racine pleaded guilty to wire fraud and unlawful interception of an electronic communication.[276][277]
Shariah and Life
Shariah and Life (al-Sharīʿa wa al-Ḥayāh) is an Al Jazeera Arabic show with an estimated audience of 60 million worldwide and stars Muslim preacher Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who is described as "Islam's Spiritual 'Dear Abby'".[279][280] The format of Shariah and Life is similar to that of al-Qaradawi's earlier programing on Qatar TV as well as Egyptian television shows going as far back as the 1960s. Programs interpreting the Quran or dealing with religious issues were popular from Morocco to Saudi Arabia.[281] The now defunct show has been the repeated subject of controversy. In January 2009, Qaradawi stated: "Throughout history, Allah has imposed upon the [Jews] people who would punish them for their corruption. The last punishment was carried out by [Adolf] Hitler." In October 2010, Qaradawi was asked if Muslims should acquire nuclear weapons "to terrorize their enemies." Qaradawi said he was pleased Pakistan had such a weapon, that the goal of nuclear weapons would be permissible, and provided religious justification quoting Qur'anic verses urging Muslims "to terrorize thereby the enemy of God and your enemy."[282][283]
Censorship of documentary about slavery in the Muslim world
In August 2018, it was reported that Al Jazeera had censored the documentary series Rotas da Escravatura (Slavery Routes), a joint European series by French channel Arte, Portuguese RTP and LX Filmes. The entire first episode (of four), which dealt with "the process that led the Muslim Empire to enduringly weave an immense network of slave trade across Africa, the Middle East and Asia" was deleted. In return, the television network claimed that slavery in Africa was a practice founded by the Portuguese.[285]
Bullying and harassment of staff
In 2022, several staff alleged that there was bullying and harassment at Al Jazeera. The allegations emerged after veteran broadcaster Kamahl Santamaria abruptly quit his job at New Zealand state broadcaster TVNZ amid harassment complaints, shortly after he moved there from Al Jazeera. A BBC investigation found he had been the subject of multiple complaints at Al Jazeera before moving to New Zealand, and that Al Jazeera staff had also accused other senior employees of harassment or bullying. It was claimed that this behaviour was tolerated at Al Jazeera.[286]
