Arab newspapers accuse Qatari media

CAIRO – 9 July 2017: In the light of the recent coalition ties, several Arab newspapers criticized Qatar’s media, especially Al Jazeera, for its role during the crisis, while the Qatari newspapers responds to such commentaries by calling them as “hatred spreaders,” BBC Arabic reported on Sunday.

In an Emirati newspaper called Al-Ittihad newspaper, Mohamed Al-Hammadi wrote that Qatar lies in regards to Media’s freedom. He also added that Al Jazeera has adopted a discourse over terrorism, violence and extremism, becoming a platform for terrorists.

Qatar did not stop at establishing a television state, in which its first concern was to destabilize confidence in the GCC countries, said Abdul Latif Al-Mulhim in the Saudi newspaper, Al-Yaum.

Abdul Ghani Al-Qash called for the Saudi media, in Mecca newspaper, to inform the countries that boycotted Qatar to “respond in the same way (Qatar replied in order) to reveal the truth and show the side that the Qatari media tries to hide or ignore.

Also, Saeed Al-Hamad, in the Bahraini-Day newspaper, has questioned whether “Does Doha own Al Jazeera or is it that Al Jazeera owns Doha and its decision making? “adding that he assumes that perhaps Doha is proud of Al Jazeera’s influence.

The coalition parties, KSA, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut off diplomatic ties with Qatar earlier this month accusing Qatar of supporting terrorist groups.

As mentioned on the BBC website in early June 2017, the oil and gas-rich state of Qatar has long practiced an ambitious foreign policy, among which there were two key issues that angered its neighbors the most. First is the Qatari support for Islamic groups such as the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, while the other reason lies in Qatari relations with Shiite Iran .

The crisis started when a Qatar news agency website published a story that expressed criticism for the U.S. “hostility” towards Iran, while calling the Islamic republic a "big power in the stabilization of the region." The incident provided a spark for regional retaliation against Qatar, which said that Qatar was a victim of hackers who provoked a "campaign of lies."