20 Facts About Wadah Khanfar

Wadah Khanfar is the President of Al Sharq Forum, an independent network dedicated to developing long-term strategies for political development, social justice and economic prosperity of the people of the Middle East.

Wadah Khanfar previously served as the Director General of Al Jazeera Media Network.

Wadah Khanfar has been ranked by Foreign Policy Magazine in 2011 as the first in The FP Top 100 Global Thinkers, and in Fast Company as the first in the 100 Most Creative People in Business and as one of the most 'Powerful People in the World' by Forbes magazine.

Wadah Khanfar was born in the Palestinian town of Rama in 1968.

Wadah Khanfar obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering at the University of Jordan in 1990 and went on to complete a post-graduate degree in philosophy, a diploma in African Studies from Sudan International University and an Honors Degree in International Politics.

Wadah Khanfar was asked by the channel to provide an analysis on African affairs, which led to him becoming a correspondent in South Africa until 2001.

In 2001 and 2002, Wadah Khanfar reported on Afghanistan from New Delhi.

Wadah Khanfar was brought in to replace Allouni as Kabul bureau chief and restored working relations with the new authorities.

Wadah Khanfar wrote that his offices and staff had been subject to "strafing by gunfire, death threats, confiscation of news material, and multiple detentions and arrests, all carried out by US soldiers", asserting that the channel's coverage had been consistently harassed for unfavourable reporting during the Ba'athist regime.

Wadah Khanfar became Managing Director of the Al Jazeera Channel in 2003 and Director General of the Al Jazeera Network in 2006.

Wadah Khanfar spoke at the 2011 TED Conference on the ongoing Arab Spring.

On 20 September 2011, Wadah Khanfar announced on his official Twitter page that he was 'moving on' from Al Jazeera after leading the channel for 8 years.

In one instance, the cables suggested that Wadah Khanfar removed images of wounded Iraqi civilians from an Al Jazeera report following pressure by the US embassy.

In September 2011, Wadah Khanfar announced to his staff and publicly on the micro-blogging platform Twitter that he would be resigning.

Wadah Khanfar is succeeded by Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani.

Wadah Khanfar was accused by some of a pro-Islamist bias.

Wadah Khanfar was criticized to favor and be biased towards the Hamas political party in the Palestinian Territories, as opposed to the Palestinian Authority run by Fatah.

Wadah Khanfar has the following memberships; member of International Crisis Group's Board of Trustees, member of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Geopolitical Risk 2012, board member of the Global Editors Network:empower editors-in-chief and senior news executives from around the world looking for the preservation of editorial quality when working with publishers, media owners and news suppliers.

Wadah Khanfar spoke at the 2011 TED Conference on the ongoing civil uprisings in the Arab Spring.

In July 2009, Wadah Khanfar was invited to the United States by leading political and media think tanks including the Middle East Institute, New America Foundation, Council on Foreign Relations, and George Washington University.