Al Jazeera controversies and criticism crowed the station's Beirut bureau chief, hailing Kuntar as a "pan-Arab hero." On 13 March 2008, Israel announced a "boycott" of the Arabic broadcaster al-Jazeera, accusing it of bias particularly during coverage of the conflict in the Gaza Strip and of slanted coverage favoring Hamas. Ministers will refuse to do interviews and according to some reports, will deny visa applications from its staff. Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Majali Wahbe accused the Qatari-owned station of prioritizing/focusing exclusively on Palestinian suffering, and ignoring Israeli suffering. "We have seen that Al-Jazeera has become part of Hamas ... taking sides and cooperating with people
Al Jazeera America that Al Jazeera America was in existence Al Jazeera English and AJE programs that were shown on Al Jazeera America were Geoblocked in the United States due to agreements with the carriers of Al Jazeera America. Programs from Al Jazeera English not shown on Al Jazeera America (such as "Empire" and "UpFront") were some of the few unblocked during the time and therefore visible on Al Jazeera English's website. In September, 2016, Al Jazeera English's online live stream and the programs which were blocked in the United States during Al Jazeera America's existence were officially un-geoblocked in the United States