HEZBOLLAH-BACKED TV CHANNEL NO LONGER BEAMED INTO AUSTRALIA
January 17th 2008 02:38
Yesterday MediaBlab featured a report from the Australian newspaper that said Hezbollah-backed television channel al-Manar “is once again broadcasting into Australia, despite a tightening of laws that prohibit programs supporting terrorism.“The Lebanese channel has been picked up by the Thai satellite communications company Thaicom, and is currently being broadcast across Australia, Africa, Europe and Asia.”
But, according to AP, the Thai satellite company yesterday said it stopped airing broadcasts of a Middle East-based television channel “after learning it was tied to the Shiite militant group Hezbollah.”
She told AP, "We would like to confirm to you that we do not provide the ... Al-Manar TV Channel on any Thaicom satellites at the moment and will not do so in the future.”
She said the deal was terminated after the company found out about the channel's background from foreign media.
The Media Line, a non-profit news group focused on Middle East coverage, and the Jerusalem Post reported last week that the Thaicom satellite was beaming the channel to Asia, Australia, the Middle East and most of Europe.
The Jerusalem Post quoted the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Centre in Israel as saying the Thai satellites had "significantly boosted the resonance of Al-Manar's propaganda messages around the world after other satellites had stopped airing the channel."
The centre is a nongovernmental group tied to Israel's intelligence community.
Shin Satellite is owned by Shin Corp, to a Singapore state-owned investment firm.
“The source, the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Centre is a right-wing NGO.
“Ironically Israelis have no fear of watching al Manar. During the 2006 of war Israeli TV stations regularly picked up al-Manar signals and re-broadcast it to its own viewers. At one stage it reached the ridiculous stage of Israel’s Channel Ten and Manar getting into a loop with each picking the other one’s signal at the same time.
“I have no love to al-Manar which has broadcasted anti-Semitic (not merely anti-Israel) programs.”
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