Egyptian Ambassador Rif'at Al-Ansari, Former Diplomat at Tel Aviv Embassy: 50,000-Strong Media "Watchdog" Serves Israeli Interests

Egyptian Ambassador Rif'at Al-Ansari spoke about a "huge Jewish-American organization called Watchdog," which monitors all media outlets for anti-Israeli content. "If anyone says that Israeli society is corrupt, that what the Israeli government is doing is wrong, and runs counter to American interests - this is monitored, and a campaign is launched to refute these claims," he said, in an apparent allusion to MEMRI. Al-Ansari became known as "Casanova of the Nile" in the Western media following an affair with a young British diplomat in the early 1980s, during which she passed on confidential information to him, while he was serving as a diplomat in Egypt's Tel Aviv embassy. The interview aired on the Palestinian Authority's TV channel on October 22, 2018.

Rif'at Al-Ansari: Today, just like there is AIPAC, there is a huge Jewish-American organization called "Watchdog." "Watchdog" is a huge organization with around 50,000 employees. It monitors every possible media outlet: the TV, the radio, the press, the social media, the electronic media, and all the others. If anyone says that Israeli society is corrupt, that what the Israeli government is doing is wrong, and runs counter to American interests – that is monitored, and a campaign is launched to refute these claims. Suddenly there are 550 comments cursing him, refuting him, threatening him, and blocking him from appearing on any media outlet. So this Israeli media watchdog makes tremendous efforts, which yield positive results for Israel.