I have just concluded a trip across several major European cities. What I witnessed disturbed me deeply.

In home after home, the television was tuned to one channel: Al Jazeera.

Families told me it is their primary — sometimes only — source of news on Gaza and the Palestinian issue. When I gently challenged what we were watching, some switched the channel. Others did not. One family member said to me plainly: “If not for Al Jazeera, we would never know the atrocities committed by Israel.”

That sentence has stayed with me.

On the screens I saw the same cycle of imagery repeated continuously: Gazan children holding empty containers waiting for food. Tents flapping in harsh winds. Mothers weeping. Poverty. Hopelessness. Helplessness.

The danger of a single narrative –

If anyone — including myself — sat absorbing those images day after day, hour after hour, without context, without complexity, without competing narratives, what would happen? We would internalize a single story. A story of pure victimhood and pure villainy.

Over time, that framing does not simply produce sympathy. It can produce rage. And rage, untethered from nuance, too often mutates into hatred — not just toward a government, but toward a people.

Across Europe, antisemitism is rising to shocking levels. Jewish schools require security. Synagogues are guarded. Jewish families whisper their identities in public spaces. This cannot be dismissed as coincidence.

We must ask uncomfortable questions about media ecosystems.

On Al Jazeera, Palestinians are often portrayed as a population without agency — existing solely as passive recipients of Israeli hostility. Absent is sustained examination of Hamas governance decisions, internal Palestinian political divisions, corruption, or the use of civilian infrastructure for military purposes. Absent too is consistent coverage of Israeli trauma, such as the aftermath of October 7.

It is not the reporting of suffering that concerns me. Suffering must be shown. It must be acknowledged. But when suffering is framed exclusively through one lens, and when one side is stripped of complexity while the other is stripped of humanity, a narrative architecture forms.

And narratives shape societies-

Several countries have raised serious concerns about the network. Israel recently banned Al Jazeera’s operations inside the country during the current war, citing security concerns. In the past, other governments in the region — including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain — have restricted or blocked its operations during diplomatic crises with Qatar. The role of Al Jazeera in the Arab world remains fiercely debated

Whether one agrees with those decisions or not, the pattern reveals that concerns about the network’s editorial posture are not confined to Israel alone.

I also noticed what was not discussed.

When the peace board initiated under President Donald Trump was finalizing its proposals — including clauses that many argued would economically benefit Palestinians — those elements received little sustained analysis. Turkey’s construction of mosques in Gaza was rarely spotlighted. Internal Qatari challenges are not a recurring feature. Yet the focus on Israel is relentless.

This question is personal for me.

Growing up, I looked up to Qatar. I admired the Doha Dialogues. I respected the work of the Qatar Foundation, led for years by Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, which invested deeply in education and women’s empowerment. Qatar positioned itself as a bridge-builder — a convener, a modern Muslim voice engaging the world.

Why the current moment matters:

Qatar has influence. Through Al Jazeera, it shapes narratives far beyond the Middle East — into European living rooms, into young minds, into diaspora communities already wrestling with identity and grievance.

With influence comes responsibility.

If there exists a generational culture in parts of the Muslim world that reflexively sees “the Jew” as the eternal enemy, then that culture must be confronted — not amplified. Media must challenge inherited hostility, not normalize it.

The Qur’an itself calls for moral balance and justice:

“O you who believe! Stand firmly for justice, as witnesses to God, even if it be against yourselves, your parents, or your relatives…” (Qur’an 4:135)

“Let not the hatred of a people cause you to swerve from justice. Be just; that is nearer to righteousness.” (Qur’an 5:8)

These are not marginal verses. They are central ethical commands.

Justice cannot mean selective outrage. Righteousness cannot mean one-sided storytelling. Compassion cannot be tribal.

We are all wanting and working for peace.

But peace requires a generational shift — in classrooms, in mosques, and yes, in media rooms. It requires portraying Palestinians not only as victims but as moral agents. It requires portraying Israelis not as caricatures but as human beings living with fear, trauma, and history.

Qatar once inspired many of us who believed in a confident, forward-looking Muslim world.

Today, it must do more.

It must use its platforms not merely to spotlight suffering — but to reduce hatred.

Because what is broadcast into homes today is shaping the Europe — and the Middle East — of tomorrow.

And if we truly believe in justice, then our media must reflect it.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)