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The following are excerpts from a TV debate regarding Rupert Murdoch's entry into the Arab media. Murdoch's News Corp, which includes the Fox network recently purchased 9% of the Arab media conglomerate Rotana Group from Saudi Prince Walid bin Talal. The debate, which included former Jordanian MP Mansur Murad and US-based Egyptian journalist Magdi Khalil, aired on Al-Alam TV on April 22, 2010.
Interviewer: What does Rupert Murdoch want from the Arab world? Has he not declared his outright support for the Israeli entity? Has the Arab media fallen into the clutches of Zionist capital? What are Murdoch's aims in infiltrating the Arab media? Who is enabling him to infiltrate the minds of the Arab viewers?
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Interviewer: Who is Rupert Murdoch?
Former Jordanian MP Mansur Murad: I believe that Rupert Murdoch is of Jewish nationality. He was born in Australia in 1931, and received US citizenship around 1985.
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Today, he controls the Fox News network, which is one of the world's largest and most dangerous news networks. It is CNN. Murdoch totally supports global Zionism, and he has mustered all his power in the service of the Zionist entity, and in the service of the neo-cons and the extreme right in the US and the West. In a nutshell, this man played a major role in the [media] coverage of the racist, anti-Arab policies of the right-wing. He covered the US war on Iraq in a positive light, and he worked day and night to make that criminal Bush popular.
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US-based Egyptian journalist Magdi Khalil: First of all, he is a Christian, not a Jew. What Jewish nationality? He's a Christian.
He operates like any successful investor. He wants to gain control over the media, and to be influential in the media industry in the world, and so on. But regardless of his personal convictions, his main interest lies in the commercial investment in media. The Arab mentality, the Middle Eastern mentality, is unfamiliar with this concept, because only in rare cases do they have commercial investment in media. In the Middle East, the main investment is in political media.
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Mansur Murad: Murdoch's media empire has three well-known strategic goals: [first], to defend Zionism and to adopt its policies at all times, secondly, to attack Islam and the Muslims, and thirdly, to defend the right-wing forces in the West, which adopt racist, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim policies. These are his three strategic goals.
Interviewer: He is saying that this infiltration is merely geared toward commercial investment, while you are saying that it isn't – that this is politically motivated. Can we [really] say that Murdoch's goals are innocent goals, driven by a desire for commercial profit, when he declares that he supports all issues that oppose the Arab causes?
Magdi Khalil: That's his own personal business. Let me tell you something. All those three goals are a complete fallacy – a figment of my colleague's imagination.
Mansur Murad: Why don't you enlighten us with something useful, sir?
Magdi Khalil: His investments with Walid... Hear me out before speaking.
Mansur Murad: Go ahead.
Magdi Khalil: Why did he invest with Walid bin Talal? Where exactly does he have an impact? It's all films and what-not, and the policies are determined by the Walid bin Talal group.
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Mansur Murad:The Arab media partnership of this Zionist man will constitute a Trojan horse to promote normalization of relations with the enemy. That's one goal. Another is to inculcate the notions of the Zionist media, and to strengthen Murdoch's power, by penetrating the policy-making of the official Arab media.
What is behind this partnership is related to several goals: the main goal of this partnership, as I've said, is not a material goal, but to produce a [new] Arab culture and media, by means of programs, songs, and TV material, which all serve the interests of the enemy's policies. They are distorting Arab history, Westernizing its culture, and targeting the youth sector, which is full of life and enthusiasm, and which is the hope of the Islamic nation. One of [Murdoch's] main goals is to target our youth, which is a large sector.
He has begun to establish this Fox TV news channel in Arabic, in order to challenge and to strike a blow at Al-Jazeera TV, and at the patriotic TV channels of the resistance, such as Al-Manar TV, Al-Alam TV, and many others. This is a 100% Zionist channel, which will broadcast in Arabic with this goal in mind. This channel is basically anti-Muslim and anti-resistance.
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Brother Magdi claims to be an Arab? You are familiar with the saying: "Like father, like son." He is the product of these regimes. He is harnessing all his knowledge and abilities in defense of terrorists like Murdoch.