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Saban & Power Rangers Assault on Al Jazeera!
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers take over the Arab world!!
Haaretz reports that Israeli-American media mogul, Haim Saban, is seeking a 50% stake in Al Jazeera. This is one strange story. One of Aipac’s most stalwart power brokers is trying to buy into the Arab world’s most important media property. There may be a business reason for Saban to do this, I don’t know. But there clearly is a powerful political motive. Imagine the possibility of co-opting Al Jazeera’s Israel coverage. It’s an Aipac wet dream. Not to mention Israeli intelligence agencies concerned with ensuring the Israeli narrative is heard in the Arab world. How do you say “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” in Arabic, anyway?
Haim Saban confers with Jane Harman, extension of his own power (i_Mishkenot)
If the emir of Qatar is seriously entertaining a Saban bid either he’s in financial difficulty or else he’s smokin’ some powerful weed. I can’t in a million years imagine why an Arab leader would be willing to give someone like Saban such immediate media cachet in the Arab world. Imagine George Soros buying half of Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp or Murdoch buying half the N.Y. Times. It’s that strange.
This is how much power Saban wields: when Jane Harman got herself in hot water for lobbying on behalf of the chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee, it was Haim Saban to whom she appealed for support in her quest. She was asking for Aipac to call in chits on her behalf and it was Saban who was the go-to guy. Saban also asked her to go to bat for Steve Rosen in the midst of his “unpleasantness” with the Justice Department.
To give you an idea of how much of a hasbarist this guy is: he called the protest at the Toronto Film Festival “anti-Semitic” and “Jew hatred.”
