# Al Jazeera blocked in the United States > **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou. > > Cite as: "Al Jazeera blocked in the United States," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/al-jazeera-blocked-in-the-united-states/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *Within hours of the first strikes on Iran, John Kiriakou reported that American cable carriers had pulled Al Jazeera, a friend in Florida texted him that Dish Network had blocked it, and viewers reported the same of Comcast Xfinity in Boston. His reading was blunt: they do not want Americans to see what is happening in the Middle East.* - **When:** 28 February 2026, the first morning of the war - **First report:** A friend, Genie, texting from Florida that Dish Network had blocked it - **Second report:** A viewer reporting the same of Comcast Xfinity in the Boston area - **His reading:** "They don't want us to see what's happening in the Middle East" - **The precedent:** Al Jazeera America, squeezed out under the Bush administration by leaning on cable companies - **Why it matters to him:** "It's the only game in town when it comes to video from Gaza" **Al Jazeera blocked in the United States** was the first thing [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) said on air on 28 February 2026, when [Ted Rall](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/ted-rall) opened an unscheduled Saturday broadcast by apologising for the circumstances. Kiriakou did not begin with the war. *"Ted, my friend Genie just texted me from Florida to say that the Dish Network has blocked Al Jazeera from broadcasting here in the United States."*[1] His gloss was one sentence: *"They don't want us to see what's happening in the Middle East."*[1] A second report followed from a viewer during the broadcast, Comcast Xfinity doing the same in the Boston area, with the observation that carriers do not do that on a whim.[2] ## What he was watching instead Having reported the blackout, Kiriakou sourced the morning's worst news to American outlets: *"We know from CNN and from other sources, the New York Times is reporting that an Israeli missile hit a girl's school in southern Iran this morning killing 57 children."*[1][3] His warning about the figure was that it was not an aberration. *"So, get used to that. That's going to be what this war looks like. The Israelis don't give a [expletive] about human life, about civilians, and we're going to see a lot of civilian casualties."*[3] ## The precedent The blackout was discussed on air as a repetition rather than a novelty, Al Jazeera America having been effectively shut down under the Bush administration, not by order but by leaning on the cable companies until it had no outlet.[4][5] What made the loss operational rather than symbolic, in the same exchange, was that no other broadcaster carries the same footage: on Gaza, the channel is *"the only game in town."*[4] ## See also - [2026 Iran war](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/2026-iran-war) - [The Iranian elementary school strike](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/iran-elementary-school-strike) - [The death of investigative journalism](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/death-of-investigative-journalism) - [Critical Analytic Thinking](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/critical-analytic-thinking) ## Sources 1. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2026-02-28), at 00:38. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryefwYfcDVY&t=38s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-28-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/ 2. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2026-02-28), at 02:42. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryefwYfcDVY&t=162s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-28-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/ 3. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2026-02-28), at 01:10. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryefwYfcDVY&t=70s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-28-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/ 4. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2026-02-28), at 03:13. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryefwYfcDVY&t=193s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-28-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/ 5. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2026-02-28), at 03:44. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryefwYfcDVY&t=224s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-28-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/al-jazeera-blocked-in-the-united-states/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt