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SHARJAH: Former Egyptian information minister Osama Heikal told Arab News on Wednesday that both his country’s media and government failed to properly challenge Israel’s false claims about the Gaza blockade at the Rafah crossing.

Heikal, who was speaking at the International Government Communication Forum 2025 in Sharjah, described the two parties as being “negligent” in dealing with news of the blockade on Egypt’s border.

“There is no doubt that Israel resorts to deception in its statements … They said the Egyptian crossing is closed (and Israel) is not imposing a blockade on the Palestinians in Gaza. But in reality, the truth is that the crossing has two sides,” he explained.

The Rafah crossing was a vital entry point of aid in the early months of Tel Aviv’s war on Gaza, until Israeli troops took over its Palestinian side in May 2024, forcing it shut. The crossing borders Egypt and Tel Aviv continued to accuse Cairo of keeping it closed.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi repeatedly denied these claims, most recently on Aug. 5 and said Egypt would always remain a gateway for aid but not one for the displacement of the Palestinian people.

“Unfortunately, because we were negligent in handling this matter in the media, some people believed this claim. This is the result of the decline in education levels and cultural awareness in general,” Heikal told Arab News.

Heikal emphasized that news must fulfil three criteria which are speed, accuracy and credibility.

“In times of crises, it’s human nature to want to know what’s going on, so whoever shares the news first wins, regardless of its accuracy, usually the narrative that sticks is the first and fastest one that reaches people in times of crisis,” he added.

International entities including the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the UN have declared a famine in Gaza for over 500,000 people.

The agencies collectively called for an immediate and full-scale humanitarian response given the escalating hunger-related deaths, rapidly worsening levels of acute malnutrition, and plummeting levels of food consumption.

However, Israel and many others deny these claims.

Heikal said that for this information to be verified Israel must allow journalists and media into the Gaza Strip.

“They are preventing entry. And this in itself proves the idea we are talking about: that they closed the crossing and prevented people from entering so they could be left alone with the Palestinians inside, carrying out mass killings in this way under the sight and hearing of the entire world.

“Therefore, we are facing a crime against humanity, and I believe that future generations will not be lenient about this issue,” he said.

LONDON: The Murdoch family has reached a deal that will see Rupert Murdoch’s politically conservative eldest son Lachlan Murdoch cement control of the family media empire that includes Fox News and the Wall Street Journal.
The agreement, announced on Monday, ends a family brawl over who will control one of the most high-profile global media groups and puts to rest questions of succession within the Murdoch family after its patriarch’s death.
The drama is considered to be one of the inspirations for the television series “Succession,” about the infighting of the members of a media dynasty. Its real-life resolution preserves the conservative tilt of Murdoch’s media outlets.
Under the deal, Rupert’s children James Murdoch, Elisabeth Murdoch and Prudence MacLeod are each expected to receive about $1.1 billion in proceeds, according to a source.
They agreed to sell their personal holdings in Fox and News Corp. over a period of six months, according to the announcement.
As part of the deal, the companies said on Monday that the children would receive cash from the sale of about 16.9 million shares of Fox Corp. Class B voting stock and about 14.2 million shares of News Corp. Class B common stock. The sale, priced at a roughly 4.5 percent discount to the last closing price of both companies, raised around $1.37 billion.
A new family trust will be created to benefit Lachlan Murdoch, and his younger siblings Grace and Chloe Murdoch, who are Rupert’s children from his marriage to Wendi Deng Murdoch. This trust, worth about $3.3 billion according to the source, will hold 36 percent of Fox’s Class B common stock and 33 percent of News Corp’s Class B shares, the companies’ statements said.

COURTROOM DRAMA
A battle over Rupert’s global television and publishing empire played out last autumn in a Reno, Nevada, courtroom, where a judge considered the contentious matter of succession.
Murdoch, 94, attempted to change the terms of the family’s trust, which was set up after his 1999 divorce from his second wife, Anna, and holds significant stakes in Fox News parent Fox and Wall Street Journal owner News Corp.
Under the original trust, News Corp. and Fox voting shares would have been transferred to Murdoch’s four oldest children — Prudence, Elisabeth, Lachlan and James — upon his death.
Murdoch worried that three of his heirs, James, Elisabeth and Prudence, could mount a coup to oust Lachlan, who serves as executive chairman of Fox and chairman of News Corp.
Murdoch had proposed an amendment to the trust that would block any interference by Lachlan’s siblings, who are more politically moderate, according to the New York Times, which obtained a sealed court document detailing the succession drama.
A Reno, Nevada, probate court rejected that plan in December, saying that Rupert and Lachlan had acted in “bad faith” in seeking to amend the irrevocable trust. That decision created a fresh opening for settlement talks, according to the source.
Fox News continues to be the number one US cable news network, playing an influential role in US politics, particularly among Republicans who prize its conservative-leaning audience.
“You know that there will always be a conservative guardian of Fox News. And frankly, if I were a shareholder, I would really think this was a very good move,” said Claire Enders, CEO and founder of UK-based media research firm Enders Analysis.