Revisiting the fear-mongering that has surrounded the Arab news network Al Jazeera since 9/11, a Fox News segment on Wednesday warned that Al Jazeera is set to “infiltrate” the United States which could awaken “sleeper cells” in the Muslim suburbs of Detroit.
As with most right wing critiques of Al Jazeera, the rhetoric is more a matter of biased perception than fact. During the height of the Iraq war, AJ’s coverage was seen in many circles as being anti-American. But as public opinion of the war soured, they were somewhat vindicated as having brought a much-needed perspective to a poorly-planned conflict that eventually spiraled into a sectarian civil war. Now, with their unbridled approach to covering the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, “anti-Israel” is the more common label lobbed at them from the right.
Host Megan Kelly began the segment referring to Al Jazeera’s expansion into the American television market by raising questions about the network’s “real anti-American bias.” Contributor Lisa Daftari agreed, resorting to typical Islamophobic rhetoric that’s been commonly disseminated by certain elements of the right.
Watch the Fox News segment and Lisa Daftari’s comments in the video below.
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