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On July 29, 2020, Mohamed Naser Ali, a TV host at the Turkey-based Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood channel Mekameleen TV, streamed a monologue on his YouTube channel in which he criticized Azmi Bishara, the head of Al-Araby Al-Jadeed newspaper. Naser accused Bishara of being a pan-Arab spy and of hating anything that has to do with Islam. He said that Bishara, a former Israeli Knesset member, who had defected from Israel in 2007, was raised "in the arms of the Zionists" and that "he has been a Knesset member all his life." He said that Bishara receives funding from the Qatari Emir Tamim and wondered what Tamim sees in Bishara. Naser streamed his monologue against the backdrop of criticism of the recent Turkish decision to turn Hagia Sophia into a mosque. Ali's criticism of Bishara and the Qatari Emir Tamim expose a divide between Qatari-funded media outlets that support Erdoğan and the Muslim Brotherhood and between the Qatari-funded outlets that support pan-Arabism and oppose the Muslim Brotherhood. For a selection of MEMRI TV's coverage of Turkey’s re-conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque, see MEMRI TV clips 8143, 8151,8154, and 8166.
Mohamed Naser Ali: "Articles [criticizing Erdoğan] were written in Al-Araby [Al-Jadeed] newspaper, which is headed by the spy Azmi Bishara. Let me reiterate: Azmi Bishara is a spy. Azmi Bishara is a pan-Arab spy. Azmi Bishara hates anything that has to do with Islam. Azmi Bishara is funded by the Emir of Qatar, Tamim. Just for your information, the Emir Tamim funds Azmi Bishara. I am not afraid of saying this. I don't want to go to Qatar anyway. The Emir Tamim is funding Azmi Bishara. Azmi Bishara was raised in the arms of the Zionists. He has been a Knesset member all his life. From the arms of the Zionists, he moved straight into the arms of the petro[dollars]. He went straight into the arms of Emir Tamim. Tamim was so pleased with Bishara that he gabve him an entire newspaper, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed. Not only that. He funded a TV channel for him, called Al-Araby. Nobody watches this channel besides him and five of his friends. It has only one show that nobody watches. Azmi Bishara hates all our [Muslim Brotherhood] TV channels very much - Elsharq TV, Mekameleen TV, and Watan TV. As was said to Azmi Bishara, the budget of our three channels combined is lower than the budget for refreshments and toilet paper at Al-Araby TV. We barely make it here.
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"Azmi Bishara's budget for toilet paper and refreshments equals three times the budget of our three channels here. I'm asking Tamim, the Emir of Qatar: What do you see in Azmi Bishara? Why do you give him money, create a research center for him, and establish a newspaper that doesn't sell?'"
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