In a 1999 interview Qandil stated his view that the pan-Arab media was not able to counter what he perceived as the influence of Zionism in American media and that the state of Arab media reflected the state of stagnation in the Arab world in general.[6] Qandil was vociferously opposed to United States foreign policy in the Middle East. He referred to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 as the "biggest modern disaster for the Arabs since 1948," the year in which the newly established state of Israel defeated a coalition of Arab armies, causing a mass exodus of Palestinians from their homes.[16]