Former Al-Jazeera Employee Sana Saeed on GMU-Affiliated Jadalyya: "Pogrom" Story in Amsterdam Was "Audaciously" Fabricated to Distract from Israel's “Extermination” of Palestinians in Gaza; This Is How They “Weaponize Antisemitism”

In a November 14, 2024, panel titled "Manufacturing the Pogrom that Wasn’t," hosted by the Palestine in Context Project on Jadalyya's YouTube platform, American media critic and former Al-Jazeera (Qatar) employee Sana Saeed criticized the “narrative of antisemitism” that emerged following the October 7 attacks. She called it a “shocking example” of how antisemitism is being “manufactured” and “weaponized” to distract from Israel's alleged “extermination of Palestinians in north Gaza.” Saeed argued that accusations of antisemitism over the attack on Israeli soccer fans were part of a broader narrative portraying Jews as “the perpetual victims” of Arabs, with Israel framed as the only safe state. She expressed shock at the media’s “audacity” in fabricating this story, suggesting that antisemitism is increasingly being used not to protect Jewish people, but to justify Israel’s “unfettered violence” against Arabs and Muslims. The panel was moderated by Bassam Haddad, an assistant professor at George Mason University business school and a faculty member at the Arab Studies Institute (ASI) at the university, and Laila Al-Arian, an American journalist with Al-Jazeera and daughter of Sami Al-Arian, a former professor at the University of South Florida who was convicted in 2006 on terrorism-related charges and subsequently deported from the U.S. According to its website, Jadaliyya is affiliated with the Arab Studies Institute (ASI) at George Mason University and with this MA program. The Palestine in Context Project is connected to numerous academic institutions, including Georgetown, Rutgers, Birzeit University, Harvard, Brown, University of Chicago, Columbia, and several others.