Owens To Northwestern: End Your Al Jazeera Partnership

WASHINGTON — In response to recent reports connecting Al Jazeera journalists to Hamas, Higher Education and Workforce Development Subcommittee Chairman Burgess Owens (UT-04) sent a letter to Northwestern President Michael Schill, urging the immediate termination of the university’s partnership with Al Jazeera.  

“Turns out that Al Jazeera is not just a platform for anti-Israel, pro-terrorist propaganda; it is also a safe haven for Hamas supporters,” said Rep. Owens. “It is unacceptable for any American university that receives hundreds of millions of dollars in annual federal funding to partner with organizations whose members are terrorists or whose reporting incites terror on behalf of Hamas. President Schill testified before Congress that Northwestern was looking into its formal partnership with Al Jazeera, and in light of disturbing reports, I’m calling for immediate answers and action to ensure this corruption is nowhere near American students.”

Background:

• On May 23, Rep. Owens questioned President Schill on the connection between Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism and the media outlet Al Jazeera, a partnership that has been denounced by Northwestern alumni affiliated organizations for its role in spreading Hamas propaganda following the October 7 attack on Israel. 
• According to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Al Jazeera and its reporters have been connected to Hamas throughout the Israel-Hamas War.
  • On June 8, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) rescued three Israeli hostages abducted on October 7 from the home of journalist Abdallah Aljamal in Nuseirat. Aljamal had previously published an article on Al Jazeera and can be found on the Al Jazeera website. 
  • Mohammad Wishah, a Palestinian journalist working for Al Jazeera was discovered to have been a commander in Hamas’s anti-tank missile unit who went on to work in research and development for Hamas and posted a photograph of himself with Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on social media. 
  • Ismail Abu Omar, an Al Jazeera correspondent who documented and praised the October 7 attack, has been accused by the IDF of being a Hamas platoon deputy commander.   
  • In another incident, the IDF carried out an airstrike on two Al Jazeera journalists who were operating a drone that posed a threat to Israeli soldiers. One journalist, Hamza al-Dahdouh, was an operative of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the other journalist was Mustafa Thuraya, who was connected to Hamas’s Al-Qadisiya Battalion. Thuraya was the individual believed to have been operating the drone, and Al Jazeera admitted that he was a freelance drone operator for the network.

The letter is co-signed by Reps. Elise Stefanik, Jeff Van Drew, and Andy Ogles. 

The full letter is available here. 

###