Abderrahim Foukara was born and raised in Morocco but later settled in the United Kingdom, where he completed a Ph.D. before joining the BBC World Service in 1990.

Over the next nine years, he worked in various BBC departments, including Arabic, French, African and journalism training, and in various capacities including producer, reporter, anchor and senior instructor. In 1999, he moved to Boston, USA, where he worked as producer and reporter on the World, a co-production of the BBC, Public Radio International and WGBH Boston. In 2001, Abderrahim moved to Washington, D.C., where he continued to report for the BBC in London before finally joining Al-Jazeera in the Summer of 2002 as a Washington-based reporter.

In early 2006 Abderrahim was appointed and still serves as head of Al-Jazeera's United States operations in Washington, D.C. He manages a team of forty people who cover a broad range of political, cultural and economic issues. In addition, he hosts a weekly show called Min Washington (From Washington), featuring a panel of specialists or a US policy maker. The point of the show is again to give people in the Arab world a broader and more comprehensive view of how life works in the United States and how that affects their lives. 

Foukara’s keen insights into the Middle East have made him a valued analyst of international events, with appearances on ABC, CBS, CNN and more.  Foukara addresses such difficult subjects as the rapid political and cultural shifts occurring throughout the region and the modernizing effect of mass media.