IMRA Newsletter
Al-Manar TV: Zionists busy with Aids Warfare
December 01 2004 at 02:13AM
www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3&art_id=qw1101856320195B253
Paris - France's broadcasting authority called for a ban on television broadcasts to Europe by Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrilla group on Tuesday, after the satellite station claimed Zionists were trying to export Aids to Arab countries.
Reacting only a week after it approved the station despite charges it was violently anti-Semitic, the Higher Audiovisual Council (CSA) said it would ask a court to ban al-Manar TV for breaking its pledge not to incite hatred among religions.
The CSA cited as evidence an al-Manar broadcast last week that spoke of "Zionist attempts to transmit dangerous diseases like Aids through exports to Arab countries". The broadcast said Israel had "no scruples" about infecting Arabs and Muslims.
Al-Manar is one of several Arabic-language satellite stations popular among France's five million Muslims, mostly of North African origin. Paris has expressed concern about growing Islamist influence among disaffected Muslim youths.
Israel had "no scruples" about infecting Arabs and Muslims "These declarations could upset public order and violate basic legal principles of broadcasting banning any incitation to hate or violence, especially for reasons of religion or nationality," the CSA said in a statement.
In a statement, al-Manar said it had respected a pledge to unbiased reporting that staved off an earlier ban, and told the council not to bend to pressure to block its broadcasts.
"The channel affirms its commitment to the agreement and is surprised by the decision since it is intent on carrying out the agreement", it said, calling CSA to "stick to the agreement and not submit to the political pressure being exercised upon it."
The CSA's decision was announced amid mounting criticism of the initial approval of al-Manar, especially by leaders of France's 600 000 Jews who - like the Muslims - make up the largest minority of its kind in Europe.
The CRIF umbrella group of Jewish organisations launched a campaign against the station on Tuesday with a bus stopping at locations in Paris to show al-Manar videoclips it said proved the broadcaster was anti-Semitic.
The CSA took al-Manar to court last August after its drama "The Diaspora", which depicts a Zionist plot to dominate the world, provoked uproar. The broadcaster comes under French jurisdiction because it uses the French-based Eutelsat.
The court ruled the CSA could only ban the station if it refused to apply for authorisation, but Manar applied for and got this approval. The same court must now rule on the CSA's new banning motion.
The CSA announced the agreement with al-Manar last Friday in a document containing a long list of commitments to unbiased journalism that al-Manar had to accept to continue broadcasting.
The United States and Britain classify Hizbollah, supported by Syria and Iran, as a terrorist group but France does not.
Hizbollah was instrumental in helping to force Israeli troops to withdraw from south Lebanon in 2000 after a 22-year occupation.