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?
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.”
Perhaps this is one of those “gestures” required of the Arabs in order to bring about peace in their region. If Saban succeeds, I wouldn’t be surprised if Murdoch put forward a bid for 50% control of Press TV.
Meh, once it becomes known that Al Jazeera is half-owned by an Israeli billionaire Arabs will just stop watching it.
Now I am really confused. Here’s an Egyptian Jew, a speaker of Arabic who grew up in Egypt, who ceases to be what “progressives” call an “Arab Jew” the minute he got close to an Arab network (or so the rumor has it). If not rationality, shouldn’t some consistency be expected? Or is it “what Left giveth Left taketh”?
Who cares whether he’s an Arab Jew or not? The problem is that he’s an AIPAC hack. Let him buy the New York Post.
But I suppose you’d have no problem if a Saudi prince with radical Islamic sympathies and a pronounced antipathy to Israel bought the NYT or CNN.
Donald,
Well said, well done. Some people are just blind to the contrast, and when you face them with it, they cry either anti-semitic or self-hating Jew. Thank you for seeing through their tranceparancy.
YOu mean the fact that Saban hate Arabs who aren’t Jewish means that I should consider him a brother to all these Arabs he despises??? A strange argument.
Hold on a minute, there are a few Arabs Saban does like: Walid Shoebat (or whatever his real name is), Tawfiq Hamid & all the others Muslims who have renounced Islam & become stooges of Israel and Christian Zionist wackos.
Does Saban refer to himself as an Arab Jew? Maybe you’re going after the wrong target here.
No, it’s Silverstein et al who refer to Jews of the Middle East and N.Africa as “Arab Jews” but apparently when only where and when it suits them. Or maybe that an Arab Jew is not Arab enough to own an Arabic network.
Haim Saban moved out of Egypt at the age of 12 in 1956. Surely you Silvia know what happened in 1956. That war the ones like you do not want to mention.
Saban is as much an Arab as Charles Taylor (Liberia) is a Jew.
Saban said in 2004 /NYT interview “I’m a one-issue guy and my issue is Israel.” Isn’t that a bit strange thinking for an Arab.
Wouldn’t it Silvia be interesting if some Saudi and other Arab oil billionaires + Iran would give to Norman Finkelstein some billions to buy the Israeli press. 🙂
Thank you and Donald for making the point I have defended here in another thread – which is that the term “Arab Jew” is an oxymoron – regardless of ideology.
I rest my case.
Are “American Jew”,”French Jew” or “Iranian Jew” an oxymorons? If an “Arab Jew” is an oxymoron then must also “European Jew” be. It is not very wise to emphasis that Jews are “linked” only to Israel and not to that which citizens they are. Surely Silvia you know that Arabs have many religions. Judaism is also a religion.
The interesting point is that how Egyptian can a 65 year old man who has been living last 53 out of Egypt and who publicly has a rather hostile attitude towards Arabs.
By the way Saban accused Sky News, a British satellite-channel owned by Rupert Murdoch, of putting out biased, overly pro-Arab coverage of the Middle East.
I’d say it’s you who is an oxymoron except that there’s nothing else I can possibly match you with that would enable me to legitimately call you that. How about hasbara hack?
It doesn’t matter he is an Arab or not, Egyptian or not. His heart is not Arabian.
Silvia,
Arabs are Jewish, Christians, and Muslims. All Jews that still live in the Arab world and did not ditch the country they were born in to move into the occupied land are still called “Jewish Arabs”, the ones that left to Israel are called Israeli Jews.
I am an Egyptian who is proud to be called a Jewish Arab, that’s how it’s been for thousands of years and will change it just to help the Israeli agenda.
Shalom
Did you mean Arabs are Jewish, Christian and Palestinians. What are they called ‘Israeli Arabs’. Give me a break!
Salam
[comment deleted for violation of comment rules]
Seriously, guys, this is the best you can do–some utterly trivial argument about whether or not Saban, a hardcore Zionist, is an “Arab Jew?” Who cares?
Saban buying a stake in Al Jazeera is a rumor that has been recycled every couple of years. Nothing new there.
As to the “utterly trivial argument” it is essential to the Israeli anti-zionist one state solution. If you google, for example, Ilan Pappe and Arab Jews, you will see how important it is in his proposed narrative
But even if you think the validity “Arab Jew” concept is an important issue, why is an Israeli-American billionaire an important test case? Why not a Jew who lives in an Arab country?
The argument is not about whether he is an Arab Jew or not. It is about why not an Arab Jew buy an Arab media. It is about..oh..my.. he is an arab, too, why not.
It doesn’t matter what is ethnicity is. He is a ZIONIST.
It doesn’t even matter that he’s Jewish.
His intention is not to make Al Jazeera ‘progressive’. His intention is to mitigate the perspective Al Jazeera gives.
He wants to introduce his own Zionist perspective.
We already have all of the Western press (virtually) for this.
If he succeeds, Al Jazeera will simply become another propaganda voice for Israel and the US.
Al Jazeera covers Palestine better than any other mainstream news (video) media.
If we can also be pragmatic, we can agree that there are narratives. Absolute truths are not reported on. Due to human nature (ideology/careerism/corruption/etc.).
So Al Jazeera could be superficially labeled the ‘other’ perspective at best by it’s detractors.
It’s doing the best job on covering the ME. Because it’s showing us the victims side. Palestine isn’t occupying Israel. Iraq and Afghanistan are not occupying the US.
Haim Saban is an intellectual midget. He is steeped in ideology.
His commentary on TIFF is ENOUGH to see how phony he is.
“Sorry, Jew-haters.” ? Really? He exhibits all the TYPICAL ethnocentrism or ‘tribal’ mentality and repulsive (and murderous/criminal) ENTITLEMENT of Zionist Jews (quite different from Christian Zionists and American ‘exceptionalists’).
Reading the LAME commentary by Silvia or whoever, is another example of a component of Zionist discourse – intellectual dishonest (example: Israel left Gaza and all it got was rockets. example: Israel has a right to defend itself.).
LD,
you’re right on the money.
I have an entirely different take on the story.
I think that Saban being willing to be an equal partner with an Arab leadership is an indication of his willingness to proceed with an entirely different norm of relationship with the Arab world.
I expect that even if he declares hands-off of editorial policy (as owners of publications must do), his presence will establish some veto role, even if he doesn’t say a word.
I would hope that a similar partnership would occur within Israeli media, if it doesn’t already.
You’ve just said something & its opposite. If he has a hands off role then he doesn’t have veto power. Claiming that owners of publications must have a hands off editorial policy is simply foolish & wrong. Hard to take you seriously sometimes (or often) Richard W.
Richard Witty,
What you said is total crap. You’re trying to outfox us by using logic that cann’t stand to testing.
Have you heard of “a leopard cann’t change its spots”. he is Jewish and Zionist to the max. If you cann’t see what the Talmudic Jews have done in their control of the American media, then you must be living in a different planet.
Arabs won’t appreciate watching “Jerry Springer” on their sat. TVs.
What, is there a full moon out tonight? You’ve been banned fr commenting. Did you really think you could get away with that crap around here?