On the Face

About a year after the news began to spread that Al Jazeera planned to start broadcasting in English - lo, it came to pass. The launch was yesterday (November 15). They recruited some pretty big names - like Mike Hanna (formerly CNN), Sir David Frost and Rageh Omaar (former BBC correspondent in Iraq). The full list of reporters is on AJ English's Wikipedia page. According to a quote from Richard Quest (CNN) in this article in The Guardian, Al Jazeera wanted him real bad - but he turned them down because he thought that “being gay and Jewish might not be suitable.”

Richard Quest: Too gay, too Jewish.

But fear not, Al Jazeera TV is not entirely Heeb-rein: Washington co-anchor David Marash (ex-Nightline) is an out-of-the-closet Member of the Tribe (MOT). And according to the San Francisco Chronicle (link), he said the “P” word (Palestine) on a live broadcast (gasp!).

Americans are not currently able to watch Al Jazeera via their cable providers (Israeli subscribers to Yes are - nyah nyah nyah), but for a mere $6.00 per month (okay, for you $5.95 - because you have beautiful eyes) you can watch it on the Al Jazeera website, here.

And everyone - except you deprived souls who live in places where You Tube is blocked  - can watch the maiden broadcast. Voila:

Last night Zvi Yehezkeli, Channel 10's intrepid correspondent for Arab affairs, commented on the differences between Al Jazeera's Arabic and English broadcasts.

Zvi!

He showed the correspondent in Gaza reporting in English from Beit Hanoun (Gaza), where 19 civilians were killed in a tragic “botched” artillery bombing, using terms like “military operation,” “dead,” and “Israeli Army.” Zvi compared this with the same correspondent's report in Arabic, in which she used the terms “massacre,” “Israeli Occupation Forces,” and “martyrs.” The English report came across as professional and neutral, though, so it will be interesting to see how AJ's reporting from Israel evolves. Interesting little factoid: The former IDF spokesman on the Arab desk once told me that he had excellent professional relations with the local Al Jazeera staff and that he thought they made an effort to give balanced reports. The Israel bureau chief for AJ Arabic, and most of the local staff, are Arab-Israeli.

Veteran readers might remember my last report about Zvi, early on in what is now often referred to as Lebanon War II, when I posted a photo of Zvi in the Channel 10 studio during a live broadcast, with Hezbollah's Al Manar TV in the background simultaneously broadcasting him live. I called the post We watch them and they watch us.

Zvi on Al Manar

Now you can watch the episode in streaming video, here. Arabic and Hebrew speakers will get it all, but for English speakers here's a summary:
Moderator Rafi Reshef (monkish haircut and glasses): Here, Zvi, they can see you. It's just your modesty that… Do you want to ask a question?
Zvi: Can I ask a question?
Rafi: Of course!
Zvika: [Starts to ask a question in Hebrew]
Rafi: In Arabic, Zvi, what's wrong with you?
Zvi (in Arabic): If you can hear us at Al Manar, at what time exactly will the secretary general (Nasrallah) give his speech?
Al Manar anchor, smiling gleefully: Look, we're on a live broadcast on Israeli TV, Mr. Nazer. Look, the Zionists can see us now. This shows how important Al Manar is in passing on credible information and how shocked the Israelis are.
Mr. Nazer: Maybe those responsible for Israeli television are afraid that the Israeli public will prefer to watch Al Manar, so they decided to broadcast it directly on Israeli television! Hahaha!

(The Al Manar guys didn't answer Zvi directly, of course: they're not allowed to talk to the Zionist enemy.)

Now that's entertainment!