When asked if he understood he was being interviewed for an Israeli newspaper, Adnan Al-Ameri, a Yemeni-British journalist, wasn’t the least bit worried. “So be it. I’ll speak my mind however and wherever I need to.”The ex-journalist for Al Jazeera of southern Yemeni descent spoke to The Jerusalem Post from London, where he has lived for the past several years, working as a freelance journalist and publicist.He was born four decades ago in Warrington, England to parents who emigrated from Yemen, or, as he put it, “from Aden, in South Arabia.”
One year later the family decided to head back home to Aden, where he spent the next 14 years of his childhood.They then moved all around the Gulf following his father’s work.
Al-Ameri studied journalism at the October 6 University in Cairo, then returned to London and worked as a producer for the Arab News Network (ANN), an Arabic-speaking channel set up by Assad regime opponent – and first cousin of Bashar Assad – Siwar al-Assad. AdvertisementFollowing his short experience in London, Al-Ameri moved on to Doha to work for the media gargantuan and Qatari mouthpiece, Al Jazeera; more specifically, at their children and youth channel, JeemTV.“I presented and produced shows about technology and other subjects. I didn’t even begin to grasp anything about the political aspect of the channel.”
Broadcasting in the name of the Sheikh
Al-Ameri described the first period of his work for the Qatari mouthpiece as uneventful – “but then everything changed when all the problems in the Gulf began.”By this, he was referencing major and interconnected events which took place in the Gulf during the mid-2010’s; namely the military operations against the Houthis in Yemen led by a coalition of Gulf states, the Yemeni civil war, and the excommunication of Qatar by the other Gulf nations.“One day the producers asked me to transfer from the children’s channel and become a news anchor for the main TV station. I refused politely at first, and then they started exerting pressure in all kinds of ways.”
Why was it so important for the Qatari media group to move Al-Ameri to the main channel? It’s not implausible to assume that Al-Ameri would have constituted a fine token for Qatar’s pedestal. In the civil war, the southern part of
Yemen was aligned with Saudi Arabia and the UAE, who led the boycott on Qatar. Therefore, a southern Yemeni who broadcasted in Qatar’s name could have been perceived as an asset for the forcefully secluded nation.“When you work for their news channel, they need you to promote their Muslim Brotherhood agendas, and if you’re not there ideologically, they’ll make sure to buy you off. “But regardless of the temptations they tried to offer – and there were many – I still said no. Eventually, they turned from luring techniques to applying different methods of pressure, which I won’t mention here. With all my family and friends in the south [of Yemen]it all started to get to me, and I was starting to feel unsafe at my workplace.”Al-Ameri described how he slowly began to develop an understanding of the agendas and tendencies at the channel – as well as the dictations issued from above.“There’s a lot of propaganda going around there, much of it dictated by the regime itself. Ahmad Alyafei, the executive director, even had a direct telephone line to the Amiri Diwan (the sheikh’s main executive office). I witnessed several times how anchors would meet for lunch, and they were told to tweet this or say that.”As for his former co-workers, he added: “Much of the staff there are of Palestinian descent. Of course, they’re all aligned with Hamas. No Fatah loyalists are to be found there, nor anyone who doesn’t affiliate with Hamas or Qatar’s agendas.”Later, full of insights about his work for a widely censored media, Al-Ameri left Qatar and returned to the UK.
The gospel of the South
The southern part of the Arabian Peninsula is a poverty-stricken area, torn by civil war, in what appears to be a vast battlefield for proxy wars between traces of Iranian, Qatari, and Saudi Emirati influences.The country internationally recognized as Yemen is currently split between the northern part with its capital in Sana’a, where a Houthi-led government is in alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood party Al-Islah (notedly, the Houthis are Iranian-backed Shia, whereas the Muslim Brotherhood is Sunni), while the southern part is claimed by a Saudi Arabia and an UAE-backed independentist faction, eager to proclaim its statehood of South Arabia, with Aden, the important port city as its capital.If this partition of Yemen to north and south sounds familiar, it may be because a similar one existed from the mid 1960’s and up until the Yemeni unification in 1990 between the northern Nasserist Yemen Arab Republic, and the southern Communist People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen, albeit for different ideological reasons.As a native of Aden, Al-Ameri said he views himself as an unofficial ambassador of the independent South Arabia, with a mission to use his platforms to carry the voice of this forgotten cause worldwide.“The government in Sana’a claims the entirety of the land, including our own areas – while we only strive for self-rule and independence in the south. We have no claims up north. It only goes to show who really is the aggressor.”Al-Ameri also stressed the ideological differences between the north and the south. “Look at the Houthi slogan for instance. It openly says, after wishing death to America and Israel, ‘a curse upon the Jews.’ This is racist rhetoric – from a formal form of government! You won’t find much of that in the south.”Indeed, he added, as a port city open to the world which also underwent a period of British rule, Aden was always more cosmopolitan and inclusive than its northern inland counterparts.As for the current war in Gaza, Al-Ameri explained that local Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated actors and the Houthis have now begun to speak with one voice, both praising the Iranian-backed attacks against cargo ships and the disruption of global commerce in the Red Sea.Here too, just like in the case of Hamas as a Sunni Muslim Brotherhood branch guided by the Shia Islamic Republic of Iran, a notable collaboration of the Qatari and Iranian axes is present.“Al Jazeera also started to show support for the Houthis and their attacks,” he emphasized, urging Israel to join the maritime fight in the Red Sea. “Just as these two opposing axes can collaborate at the convergence of their interests – so too Israel must seize the moment and join forces with allies in Saudi Arabia and the UAE and lend us a hand in securing the Red Sea.”Al-Ameri doesn’t hide the challenges his people face in the South. “What is needed is maritime support. The south can benefit from Israel’s knowledge and capabilities. We have brave fighters and we’re at a tactical advantage, as we have shown the Houthis in our past campaigns. But we’ve never had the chance to train at sea, which is something in which Israel has much experience. And if Israel joins openly – this could be a game changer.”Al-Ameri isn’t hesitant to discuss an alliance between Israel and an Arab force in Yemen openly.
“Let me reassure you that though people may have their prejudices, they’re also very intrigued,” Al-Ameri explains calmly. “They know that our own allies see in Israel a potential ally and we trust them wholeheartedly. Even during the war there were videos circulating online showing people from the South tearing away billboards in support of Gaza.”“I have a dream of visiting Israel, maybe even through a formal invitation,” he allows himself to drift away. “I want to host a Twitter Space from Tel Aviv, document everything I see for the eyes of our youth, showcase to the youth of South Arabia that Israelis are human just like us, that they live and work like us, that they have cafes and tourism and all. This would make an immense impact and fill their hearts with hope for a better future.”
