First appearance on FOXPresident Biden has come under pressure to revoke Al Jazeera’s media credentials and cut off its access to the White House after reports emerged that one of its journalists was holding an Israeli hostage in his home in the Gaza Strip.
“It is no secret that Qatar-funded Al Jazeera has long been a mouthpiece for terrorists and spreads anti-American sentiment,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said in a letter to President Biden on Tuesday night. “I therefore urge you to immediately revoke Al Jazeera’s access to the White House until it severs all ties with U.S.-designated media outlets.” [Foreign Terrorist Organizations]”
Al Jazeera Media Network is a global media company with numerous channels and publications in many languages. It was founded in Qatar in 1996, where it is still based today, and its website states that it is “funded in part by the Government of Qatar.” The network also has dozens of bureaus around the world.
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Senator Marco Rubio (left) called on President Biden to revoke Al Jazeera’s White House press pass after it was revealed that Israeli hostages were being held in the home of a purported Al Jazeera journalist. (Getty Images)
“The list of Al Jazeera ‘journalists’ supporting terrorism in Gaza is growing,” Rubio argued.
“Three of the hostages reportedly rescued by the IDF after 246 days of captivity in Gaza were being held captive by Palestinian Al Jazeera journalist Abdallah al-Jamal and his relatives,” the Republican congressman stressed.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed earlier this week that al-Jamal, who was killed during a hostage rescue operation, “was a Hamas terrorist who was holding Almog, Andrei and Shlomi hostage in their home in Nuseirat. The IDF provided a screenshot of al-Jamal’s Al Jazeera author page.”
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Earlier this month, Israel rescued four Israeli hostages in its largest hostage rescue operation since the outbreak of the war with Hamas on October 7, 2023. Noah al-Ghamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 22, Shlomi Ziv, 41, and Andrei Kozlov, 27, were rescued by the Israel Defense Forces in central Gaza after 246 days of captivity.
Al Jazeera denied any links to Al-Jamal, saying “he has never worked with Al Jazeera but contributed an op-ed to the company in 2019.” A spokesman for the network, X Account, added: “These allegations are completely without merit.”
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Rubio noted that despite Al Jazeera’s claims, “on the company’s English-language website he is listed as a ‘Gaza-based reporter and photojournalist’ and that he ‘frequently covers the ongoing ‘March of Return’ protests at the fence separating besieged Gaza from Israel.'”
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Additionally, the Florida senator noted that Al-Jamal was also a contributor to the Palestine Chronicle, “an English-language pro-Hamas outlet led by former Al Jazeera executive Ramzi Baroud,” whose previous articles often referred to the war as a “genocide.”
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Noa Al-Ghamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 22, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41, were rescued in two separate locations during a complex special daytime operation in the center of Nuseirat, central Gaza. (Israel Defense Forces)
As Rubio claimed, Baroud was once deputy editor at Al Jazeera Online, according to his LinkedIn profile, and is currently editor of the Palestine Chronicle.
“Freedom of the press is in the DNA of our country,” Rubio began, “but for many years, Al Jazeera has used its platform to stoke anti-American sentiment and make our country and our allies less safe.”
Israeli forces carried out a rescue operation in the Gaza Strip over the weekend amid heavy artillery fire. (Israel Defense Forces)
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“As long as Al Jazeera employs journalists and reporters who operate as members or affiliates of the FTO, Al Jazeera will continue to undermine our country from inside government buildings,” he argued, adding that “there is no reason for Al Jazeera or its employees to have access to you, the White House, or your advisors.”
He called on Biden to revoke the IDs of all “employees with access to the White House,” including Kimberly Halkett, Al Jazeera’s US correspondent.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital by publication time.
Al Jazeera did not immediately comment when contacted by Fox News Digital.
