A group of media critics, journalists, academics, and national security and Middle East experts has asked the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security to open hearings into Jihadist propaganda channel Al Jazeera’s acquisition of Al Gore’s Current TV cable channel. “The announcement that the Qatar-funded enemy propaganda channel, which has functioned as a voice for al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, has taken over an existing U.S.-based cable TV channel, Current TV, must be examined by the Congress,” they say in the letter to Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas).

The 8-page letter examines the nature of Al Jazeera and its controversial programming, citing Dr. Judea Pearl’s criticism of Al Jazeera as “the main propaganda machine” of the pro-terrorist Muslim Brotherhood. Equally significant, Dr. Pearl, the father of slain journalist Daniel Pearl, says, “Al Jazeera weaves the ideological structure and combustible angers from which Jihadi recruits eventually emerge.”

The letter reaffirms this point, telling chairman McCaul, “The immediate danger that must be addressed is that Al Jazeera’s influence over potential Muslim extremists could inspire home-grown Jihadists to commit terrorist acts against Americans.”

The letter also raises other legal questions about the acquisition of Current TV, citing unresolved complaints to the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice about Al Jazeera’s operations in the U.S.

Read the letter here.