US Senator urges Biden to revoke Al Jazeera’s press credentials after hostages held in journalist’s house

According to reports, three of the four hostages rescued by the IDF last Saturday were held in the home of Al Jazeera journalist Abdallah Aljamal.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Florida GOP Senator Mark Rubio urged the Biden Administration to remove press credentials from Al Jazeera after one of its journalists reportedly held Israeli hostages, Fox News reports.

According to reports, three of the four hostages rescued by the IDF last Saturday were held in the home of Al Jazeera journalist Abdallah Aljamal.

Rubio said, “It is no secret that Qatar-funded Al Jazeera has long been a mouthpiece for terrorists and has peddled anti-American sentiments.”

He added, “As such, I urge you to immediately revoke Al Jazeera’s access to the White House until it cuts all ties with U.S.-designated [Foreign Terrorist Organizations].”

Al Jazeera was founded in 1996 and is funded in part by the Qatari government, which serves as a mediator between Hamas and the rest of the world, is home to Hamas’s political wing, and has funded the terror group.

“The list of Al Jazeera ‘journalists’ in Gaza who are supporting terrorism is only growing,” Rubio said.

Al Jazeera says that Abdallah Aljamal, who was killed during the hostage rescue operation, claimed that “he has never worked with the Network, but had contributed to an Op-ed in 2019.”

Senator Rubio countered this assertion by Al Jazeera by pointing out that Aljamal is listed on the English version of the website as a ‘Gaza-based reporter and photojournalist’ who ‘often reports from the ongoing ‘March of Return’ protests at the fence separating besieged Gaza from Israel.’”

Rubio also pointed out that Aljamal also wrote for the Palestine Chronicle, which is “an English-language pro-Hamas outlet led by ex-Al Jazeera official Ramzi Baroud.”

Israel shut down Al Jazeera’s news operations on May 5, revoking the network’s press credentials, confiscating transmitters and blocking its websites. The shutdown is not permanent but is subject to renewal every 45 days.

On Sunday, Israel’s Minister of Communications Shlomo Karhi extended the ban.

“I have now signed the extension of the orders banning Al Jazeera channel broadcasts in Israel. This decision was unanimously adopted by the government, based on updated opinions from all security sources, which state unequivocally that the channel’s broadcasts are a real threat to the security of the state,” Karhi said on X, formerly known as Twitter.