Al Jazeera speech by the leader of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. Staff members protested that the speech was not the most important aspect of the debate, and that it was a repetition of previous calls for Arab intervention. "The Guardian" also said in September 2012 that Qatar had taken steps in recent years to consolidate control of Al Jazeera English. A 13 August 2015 article in "The Independent" on poor BBC news reporting also made reference to the political bias in Al Jazeera from the Qatar government. Al Jazeera Al Jazeera (, , literally "The Island", though referring to the
Al Jazeera controversies and criticism Al Jazeera's official broadcasting rights. The British newspaper "The Guardian" reported that evidence points toward jamming by the Jordanian government. As a major news outlet in the Middle East, Al Jazeera's editorial positions are often subject to increased levels of scrutiny. During the Second Intifada Palestinians killed by Israelis were referred to as 'martyrs' while Israelis killed by Palestinians were not. On the 2008 release in an Israel-Hezbollah deal of Samir Kuntar, who had murdered Four Israelis in 1979, including a 4-year-old girl, Al Jazeera Arabic threw him a party: "Brother Samir, we wish to celebrate your birthday with you,"