Al Jazeera, the Arab satellite channel that’s always first with new releases from Al Qaeda, seems to be keeping a low profile for the moment in their push to get access to US airwaves. But they’ll be back. You can count on it. Because, as Steven Stalinski shows in this New York Sun piece, they’re a tool of the Muslim Brotherhood.

And the Ikhwan are in this game for the long haul: Al-Jazeera’s Dirty Little Secret.

Since the war on terror began, many Arab reformists have spoken out against “the culture of hate” that has incited its people to terrorism. The TV network Al-Jazeera is often at the center of this criticism.

Arab reformists who have witnessed first-hand incitement on Al-Jazeera often discuss its connection to the Ikhwan movement, aka the Muslim Brotherhood. This organization is one of the world’s leading Islamist groups, based in Egypt and founded in 1928 by Hasan al-Banna. Today, its ideology influences groups ranging from Hamas to Al Qaeda.

One of the most prolific Arab scholars and columnists, Mamoun Fandy, wrote in the London-based Arabic daily Asharq Al-Awsat about the movement’s relationship with Al-Jazeera on January 22. “The Muslim Brotherhood has at its disposal media that transcends borders, from newspapers to satellite channels, which have taken over the minds of millions … throughout the entire Arab world,” he wrote.

Calling Al-Jazeera “the Muslim Brotherhood channel,” Mr. Fandy discussed the network’s activity in the Middle East. “Al-Jazeera … is already propagandizing for the organization. … If you watch a debate program presented on Al-Jazeera … you will be amazed at the supreme effort … to defend the Muslim Brotherhood.”

Pierre Akel, founder and editor of a prominent Arabic reformist Web site, Metransparent.com, summed it up on February 9, 2006, “When it comes to satellite television in the region, Al-Jazeera is controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood.”

A Tunisian intellectual and director of the Netherlands–based Center for Promoting Democracy in the Arab World, Khaled Shawkat, wrote about the connection between Al-Jazeera and the Muslim Brotherhood in an article for the progressive Arabic Web site Elaph.com on July 29. “Al-Jazeera has been hijacked by the Muslim Brotherhood organization,” he wrote.