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 it as "serving Zionism". Several Al Jazeera staff were killed by U.S. Military "friendly-fire" incidents. The United States controlled Iraqi interim government closed the offices of Al Jazeera in Baghdad in August 2004 during the United States occupation on Iraq. Then United States appointed Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi accused the channel of "inciting hatred" in the country. At the end of April 2013, the Iraqi government led by Nouri Al Maliki once again ordered Al Jazeera to stop broadcasting due to the alleged role of the channel in "encouraging the sectarian unrest". In response to the restrictions imposed by