politics

The Lobby (TV Series)

The Lobby is a series of documentaries produced by Al Jazeera that investigate the influence of the Israel lobby in the United Kingdom and in the United States and their relationship to the BDS movement

Blocked screening and subsequent leak

On February 8, 2018, it was reported that Qatari leaders had reassured the leaders of Jewish American organisations that Al Jazeera would not be airing the US companion series. According to Haaretz, the Qatari government had reportedly hired Republican Senator Ted Cruz's former aide Nicolas Muzin to open communications channels with Jewish American organisations. Earlier, the network had sent letters to several American pro-Israel organisations informing them that their employees would appear in the documentary. These letters generated speculation that the Qatari government had reneged on its earlier promise to block Al Jazeera from screening the controversial documentary which, like the earlier British series, had utilized clandestine footage and recordings of pro-Israel activists.

Al Jazeera's decision not to screen the documentary drew criticism from Clayton Swisher, who accused the network of capitulation to outside pressure. Swisher said that the practice of using undercover investigators "is used by many international broadcasters, including BBC and CNN, and is carefully managed, through multiple layers of legal and editorial review, to ensure it is performed consistently with local laws, industry regulations, and our own Code of Ethics". Swisher took a sabbatical from Al Jazeera due to the network's failure to respond to attacks on the project and the lack of transparency around the network's decision to delay the broadcast. In March 2018, a bipartisan group of US lawmakers including Democratic Congressman Josh Gottheimer, Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin, and Ted Cruz penned a letter urging United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions to investigate whether Al Jazeera should register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. They also urged the Justice Department to investigate reports that the network had infiltrated non-profit organisations and accused Al Jazeera of broadcasting antisemitic, anti-Israel, and anti-American content. On April 10, 2018, the Zionist Organization of America's president Morton Klein claimed credit for lobbying the Qatari government not to screen Al Jazeera's companion documentary series focusing on American pro-Israel lobby.

Clayton Swisher's social credit score is completely fucked, let me tell you what.

Hopefully next.