Lebanese Information Minister George Qordahi has sparked a media storm that no one has watched in recent weeks.
In a program of the Al-Jazeera network that aired even before he was appointed to the pointless ministry, the politician said that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were attacking Yemen in a pointless war.
A video from the show, which recently burned social media, has degenerated into a diplomatic crisis that is shaking the land of cedars: Lebanese ambassadors have been expelled from four countries, Gulf ambassadors have been returned and Saudi Arabia has threatened sanctions.
There is nothing like a Middle East scandal to sum up the 25 years of broadcasting that al-Jazeera recently mentioned.
From an economic crisis to a bloody war has grown the audience of the Qatari network which has never made an effort to hide its Islamist biases;
From the broadcast of recordings by arch-terrorist Osama bin Laden to the caressing coverage of Hamas terrorists in Gaza, to the backing of the Muslim Brotherhood and the documentation of the "Arab Spring" protests that provoked resentment among Middle Eastern rulers.
At the end of the week, al-Jazeera once again mobilized to serve as a Hamas propaganda apparatus, amid the stalemate over the issue of prisoners and missing persons in Gaza.
An interrogation program reported on "two Israelis abducted abroad."
There have also been failures in the effort to become an international network.
In 2013, the network acquired shares of the American channel Current TV to broadcast a news edition that would capture public opinion in the United States. The adventure ended with a lawsuit by none other than the former Democratic presidential candidate, Al Gore.
As a shareholder in the channel, he claimed that al-Jazeera did not pay the $ 65 million it undertook to pay as part of the acquisition.
The Qatari network, for its part, filed a counterclaim and in 2016 the dispute was settled out of court.
The newscast, by the way, received negligible ratings and the project was shelved.
At least for now.
A recording of bin Laden in al-Jazeera.
The network made no effort to hide the Islamist bias, Photo: AP
Al-Jazeera has faced boycotts, the liquidation of journalists and the closure of branches over the years, but only in 2017 did it face an existential threat.
Saudi Arabia and its allies boycotted Qatar and demanded the closure of the network.
Fortunately, the boycott collapsed last January and Doha renewed its relationship with its neighbors without paying a significant price.
Greater Saudi Arabia is left to abuse poor Lebanon.
Qatar, which owns a network that provided a stage and a microphone to Kordahi, was content with only weak condemnation.
However, the Saudi rampage did not stem solely from Hezbollah's criticism or drug smuggling into its territory.
Kordahi bought his world on the Saudi television network MBC, which operates, among other places, in Lebanon.
In other words, it was Saudi Arabia that allowed him to develop his media status and pave the way for the Ministry of Information.
On the face of it, he spat at a well from which he drank and more at al-Jazeera.
And perhaps this is part of the explanation for why heir to the throne Muhammad bin Salman aspires to transfer the media empires to Saudi Arabia.
According to Reuters and Bloomberg reports, in early January the MBC media network will initially broadcast 12 hours a day of Riyadh.
Externally, Saudi Arabia is wrapping up the move in a plan to turn the capital into an international business center, a kind of Dubai 2.0.
As part of this, it was decided that the state would not support contracts of companies that do not operate within the kingdom since 2024.
Therefore, news channels such as al-Haddad and al-Arabiya, which operate in the UAE, will gradually move to Riyadh.
Muhammad bin Salman.
Strives to tighten the grip, Photo: AFP
Saudi media corporation SRMG is also expected to expand its operations in Saudi Arabia.
Even the group's media outlet, al-Sharq Al-Awsat, may move its operations from London to Riyadh.
It has previously been reported that the editor-in-chief, Rasan Sharbal, has resigned from his previous job to stay in London.
This may vacate many roles in the system.
The model to which Ben Salman aspires can be seen in the popular and sensational newspaper "Okahaz".
Last Thursday, the newspaper published on its website a leak intended to harm Hezbollah as a counterweight to criticism against Saudi Arabia.
In a recording by Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdullah Bo Habib, he was heard mocking American pressure in the Trump era to break free from Hezbollah influence.
"I told the Americans: send a hundred thousand marines and fire us from Hezbollah. If you want to celebrate - champagne is upon us," Abdullah said.
Although Ukah is not indirectly controlled by the government and belongs to a group of Majda businessmen, in addressing the young Saudi public, he is more than happy to embarrass the Lebanese and expose what is perceived in the kingdom as hypocrisy by Beirut politicians.
Abdullah is kind to him.
Embarrassed by the Saudis, Photo: Reuters
Dr. Yossi Mann, a researcher in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states from Bar Ilan University, recently explained in an interview with Israel Today that, above all, cohesion is needed in Saudi Arabia. .
In fact, what particularly interests Ben Salman is to enchant the younger generation in Saudi Arabia who constitute an absolute majority in the country;
Avoid even the rare cases in which criticism of Saudi Arabia is voiced - precisely where it invests huge fortunes.
A stronger grip on the media should satisfy his demand.
He learned this well from his sworn enemy - al-Jazeera.