Dubai, UAE–American cable channel MSNBC has quietly taken three prominent Muslim journalists “out of the anchor’s chair” since the onset of war between Palestinians and Israel, according to a media report.
The report said MSNBC quietly took Mehdi Hasan, Ayman Mohyeldin, and Ali Velshi “out of the anchor’s chair” after the war broke out on October 7.
According to the report, MSNBC did not broadcast its scheduled Thursday night episode of The Mehdi Hasan Show on the streaming platform Peacock.
As a British-American broadcaster and best-selling author of Indian descent, Hasan has presented The Mehdi Hasan Show on Peacock since October 2020 and on MSNBC since February 2021.
The network also reversed a plan for Mohyeldin to fill in for another host on Thursday and Friday.
The Egyptian-American journalist, the network’s most experienced reporter in Gaza, is a fierce critic of policies adopted by Israel toward Palestinians. As a veteran NBC News correspondent, he covered the conflict from the besieged Gaza Strip for two years.
Citing an unnamed sources with knowledge of the plans, Semafor said MSNBC also plans to replace Velshi with Alicia Menendez in this upcoming weekend.
As a Canadian journalist of Indian descent, Velshi is a Muslim and a senior economic and business correspondent for NBC News since October 2016. He serves as an anchor for MSNBC.
Velshi on Sunday had interviewed a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, which governs the occupied West Bank.
According to the report, some staff at MSNBC have been concerned by the shifts, feeling all the three hosts have some of the “deepest knowledge” of the conflict in the occupied territories.
NBC claimed that the changes are ”coincidental” and denied that that the hosts – three of the most high-profile Muslim on-air personalities on the network – are being sidelined, saying that the three Muslim journalists continue to appear on air to report and provide analysis.
The apparent dismissals came after the editorial board of the New York Post published a scathing attack on MSNBC for its “shameful” coverage of the Palestinian operation, accusing the news organization of having “run interference for Hamas.”
The paper echoed the attack from NewsNation host Dan Abrams, who ripped MSNBC’s “shameful pandering to their far left audience,” singling out Mohyeldin, Velshi and Hasan for their alleged anti-Israel stance.
Hamas launched Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against Israel on Saturday in response to the regime’s violations at Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East al-Quds and growing settler violence.