On March 23, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced pursuant to Executive Order 13224, that Al-Manar, a satellite television channel operated, owned, and controlled by the Iranian-funded Hezbollah terrorist network was designated as a global terrorist entity. The announcement cited earlier U.S. laws against Al-Manar which it called “the media arm of Hezbollah.”
Hezbollah’s brazen response to the U.S. decision was not surprising. A spokesman for Al-Manar was quoted by the Lebanese Daily Star on March 25 vowing to continue broadcasting despite having its assets frozen by the U.S. government. He insisted it was “nothing new” and added, “It doesn’t change anything, and we will continue our work and will remain broadcasting everywhere in the world, including the U.S.”
Al-Manar’s general manager, Abdullah Qassir, was also quoted by the Daily Star stating: “We consider this an assault on an objective and professional media group. It is politically motivated and we have information that the Zionist lobby in the U.S. is behind it.” Qassir went on to explain, “The channel is now watched in America and all over the world…Al-Manar is an honorable open station that abides by rules and regulations, and is far from encouraging terrorism or violence as it is constantly being accused of by the U.S.”
The following highlights the story behind Al-Manar; its activity in the U.S.; its role propagating anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism in the Muslim world; and how it incites Muslims in the West to violence. Over a dozen links to translated segments from the channel are included.
Al-Manar is Hezbollah’s Propaganda Wing
According to its website, Al-Manar is a “Lebanese TV station,” launched in 1991 that began broadcasting via satellite in 2000. The channel claims to focus on the tolerant values of Islam and “to promote the culture of dialogue and cooperation among the followers of the Heavenly religions and human civilizations.” The website also states that “Al-Manar avoids cheap incitement” and presents a combination of religious programming, international and local news, sports, politics, culture, and children’s shows.
The channel is officially associated with the Arab League and according to its website, “draws a large number of viewers inside the Arab world and in countries of immigration.” The Daily Star has reported that Al-Manar claims to reach an estimated 200 million viewers around the world, but the newspaper said a more realistic approximation is 10 million regular viewers. According to the French paper Liberation, Al-Manar reaches about 100 million homes in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.
The network first made headlines with the airing of the Syrian-produced Ramadan special “Al-Shatat” (“Diaspora”) in 2003. (See here.) The series focused on the purported history of the Jews with classic anti-Semitic motifs including the blood libel. MEMRI was instrumental in bringing the issue of Al-Manar and Al-Shatat to the attention of world leaders, including high-ranking American government officials; Germany’s chancellor and its foreign minister; the Swedish and Australian prime ministers; and France’s prime minister and president. After the French prime minister viewed segments from the series, he called for banning the channel in France, according to the French daily Le Monde.
Following the French ban of Al-Manar, Hezbollah has tried to create an impression that it is not officially connected to the channel. Yet Al-Manar’s news director, Hassan Fadhlallah, is a Lebanese member of parliament representing the Hezbollah party. In a 1995 interview with the Washington Post, an Al-Manar station manager said the station “belongs to Hezbollah culturally and politically.”
Arab and Western press outlets also describe the channel as belonging to Hezbollah. Writing in the Lebanese Daily Star on December 24, 2005, Rami Khouri called the channel “Hezbollah-owned Al-Manar.” On November 21, 2005, Al-Jazeera TV reported: “The Al-Manar TV station, speaking in the name of Hezbollah,” and on May 14, 2005, the Saudi daily Al-Riyadh wrote: “Al-Manar TV, which belongs to Hezbollah.”
Al-Manar’s chairman, Nayyef Krayyem, who was also chief of Hezbollah’s information department, told the Christian Science Monitor in 2001, “Al-Manar is an important weapon… It’s a political weapon, social weapon, and cultural weapon.” Hezbollah’s deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Qassem, was quoted explaining that Al-Manar’s message is simple: “Jihad is the only way to salvation, and the experience of the Islamic and the Lebanese resistance is the best proof.”
The channel is used to spread Hezbollah’s message in Lebanon as well as throughout the world. In an interview with Islam Online in January 2001, an Al-Manar TV broadcaster, Fatima Bari, said Hezbollah’s activities have “enriched Al-Manar TV through its Jihad, the blood of its martyrs, and everything it sacrificed” and that “Al-Manar TV waged an extremely harsh media war against the Zionist[s].”
During last year’s Lebanese elections, Al-Manar was responsible for getting Hezbollah’s message out. No other groups or parties running for office had a TV station at their disposal. One Lebanese politician, Ali Trabulsi, appeared on the channel during the early round of voting on June 5 declaring, “I vote ‘yes’ for the resistance [i.e. Hezbollah]. I have written it with the blood of my 10 fingers.” He then took his bloody finger and wrote on his election form: “Yes to the resistance.” (See here.) The result: His group won 14 out of 128 seats and Hezbollah emerged as a power in the Lebanese Parliament.
Al-Manar’s Activity in the U.S.
One of the most authoritative books written on terrorist groups operating in the U.S., Steven Emerson’s American Jihad, has asserted that Hezbollah is active in American cities, including Detroit, Philadelphia, New York, and Washington, D.C. Most notable was a Hezbollah cell operating in Charlotte, N.C. It was taken down following an FBI sting in July 2000, whereby 18 people were charged. According to the indictment, they were guilty of providing training, communication equipment, and explosives to Hezbollah “in order to facilitate its violent attacks.”
Hezbollah does maintain an elaborate network in America. Staff from Al-Manar have lived and been educated here, including a translator, Mohammad Abdullah, who graduated from the University of Massachusetts. Al-Manar also has a Washington-based correspondent named Muhammad Dalbah.
A few months ago, Al-Manar’s website was registered in Seattle, by a company called eNom, with Internap Network Operations. Previously, the website was hosted in New Jersey. According to a May 31, 2005, report in the St. Petersburg Times, it was taken down temporarily but was up again a week later with another provider. Al-Manar webmaster Mohammed Obeid explained: “Companies that do hosting for us are getting afraid of the consequences by the U.S.”
On occasion, anti-American figures are interviewed on Al-Manar from Washington D.C. For example, the editor-in-chief of the Washington-based Middle East Magazine, Ahmad Yusuf, said in a December 30, 2004, interview that Muslims were not involved in the attacks of September 11, 2001. He called the attacks a grand scheme designed by Israelis and American right wing forces, including “evangelical Christians.” He also said the American government itself attacked Pearl Harbor as an excuse to enter War World II (see here).
In its broader strategy to reach out to Americans, Al-Manar has been a useful tool for Hezbollah. During the last two years, delegations from families of victims of the September 11 attacks, along with members of the Presbyterian Church, have appeared on the channel in meetings with the terror organization. In one instance, the deputy leader of Hezbollah, Sheikh Nabil Qauq, said that President Bush’s and America’s “aggressive inclination [is] a real danger to all monotheistic religions.” A Presbyterian elder, Ronald Stone, stood at Mr. Qauq’s side and said, “We treasure the precious words of Hezbollah and your expression of goodwill toward the American people.” (See here.)
In May 2004, Al-Manar invited foreign college students studying in Lebanon, from countries such as Australia, Russia, and America, to participate in a documentary in support of Hezbollah. Three American students took part, including an American University of Beirut graduate student, Stephanie Tournear. She was quoted in the Daily Star as saying, “It’s a shame you can’t state your opinion or observations regarding Hezbollah in the U.S.” Another American student who would not be identified said, “I decided not to be involved in the documentary, as it could have security and employment implications for me upon return to the U.S.”
In an important step in the war on terror, the State Department added Al-Manar to its “Terrorism Exclusion List” in December 2004 for incitement to terrorism. Among other things, the designation means that anyone working for or helping the network can be barred from America.
Yet Al-Manar maintains vocal Arab and Muslim-American supporters. Osama Siblani, publisher of Dearborn, Michigan’s Arab American News, which, according to its website, “is the largest, oldest, and most respected Arab American newspaper in the United States” was quoted in the Washington Post as saying, “I disagree with the State Department that it [Al-Manar] incites violence. … By that standard, they should shut Fox News for inciting against Muslims.”
Texas Muslims for Islamic Change issued a statement that it was “dismayed at this development and considers it to be part of the American government’s assault on constitutional rights,” adding, “To date we have not seen properly documented evidence brought forward that would support the State Department’s claim that Al-Manar ‘preaches violence and hatred’ or ’serves to incite … terrorist violence.’”
Since it has been put on the State Department’s terror list, the station has continued to attack America, describing it as a “plague” with commentators calling for jihad against the country. As Hezbollah’s leader, Sheikh Nasrallah declared at a rally covered live on Al-Manar in February 2005, with thousands yelling “Death to America”: “We consider the current administration an enemy of our [Islamic] nation. … Our motto, which we are not afraid to repeat year after year is ‘Death to America’” (See here.)
Similarly, during a speech televised on Al-Manar on February 23, Nasrallah said: “America you are the great Satan… America, the enemy of Muslims… Those who have come at night, like bats, will hear Lebanon saying: Death to America…” (See here.)
Anti-American Incitement on Al-Manar
The 1983 attack on American Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 was Hezbollah’s coming-out party. To this day, the attack is lauded on Al-Manar. A Hezbollah “poet,” Atef Moussa, appeared on May 22, 2005, and said, “Who says we are afraid of war? … Who can compare to the men of Hezbollah? … These enemies [the American military] turned out to be as light as cardboard. Bush knows it. Beirut remains dangerous for the Marines. Our proof is here, they left in shame. Our people sail the seas of martyrdom.” (See here.)
In an anti-American speech mocking the American military on March 8, 2005, Hezbollah’s leader, Sheik Nasrallah, also referred to the attack: “I address the following to America … to President Bush … to Condoleezza Rice … and to American-Lebanese field commander Satterfield … Lebanon will not … throw its heart to your soldiers’ dogs so they will eat it … You can make yourself heard by the commander of the American forces in the region, who is of Lebanese origin, John Abizaid … Are you Lebanese afraid of the American naval fleets? These naval fleets have come in the past, and were defeated, and if they come again, they will be defeated again.” (See here.)
Since Hezbollah’s founding, its leadership has threatened America openly. In a March 1985 Newsweek article about Hezbollah, an Islamic teacher at the Bir Al-Abed Mosque in Beirut, Alia Hamden, promised a future attack by the terror organization within America. Similarly, in a July 2003 interview with the Christian Science Monitor, Shiek Nasrallah said that if America tried to dismantle his organization, American interests throughout the world will be at risk, “through any means and at any time and any place.”
Al-Manar is Hezbollah’s main vehicle for spreading its anti-American ideology. Such messages surface in news programs, music videos, and even game shows. For example, the question “What structure built of gray sandstone in 1792 became the source of all oppressive decisions the world over?” was asked on Al-Manar’s version of Jeopardy, The Mission. The answer: “the White House.” The Mission quizzes contestants from throughout the Middle East about Islamic history, geography, and arts. A spokesman for the channel, Ibrahim Musawi, explained the show’s appeal “is not in an ideological way, but in an entertaining way.”
On February 12, 2005, Sheik Naim Qassem of Hezbollah appeared on Al-Manar to discuss his hatred of President Bush: “He considers himself the god of the world. This perversion is evident in his personality … His is patronizing and everyone abhors him … he is a liar who tried to impose heresy on Islam.” (See here.)
Sheik Nasrallah urged a screaming crowd in May 2004 to send “a symbolic message that tells the Americans that we are a people that does not settle for words, but is prepared for martyrdom…[L]et Bush, Powell, Rumsfeld, and all those tyrants in Washington hear … there will only be room for great sacrifice for the call to martyrdom.” (See here.)
Influential Arab figures also regularly appear on Al-Manar to express anti-American sentiments. One among countless examples is the editor of the Egyptian weekly Al-Arabi, who said in an April appearance, “Anti-Americanism is like music” to his ears, calling America “the plague” and “an ongoing crime.” The head of the Sunni religious courts in Lebanon, Shiek Muhammad Kanan, called America “the garbage of all nations” in a sermon broadcast live last year.
A professor of political science at Notre Dame University in Lebanon, Dr. George Hajjar, who identified himself as “coming from Columbia University,” appeared on July 13, 2005, saying, “America is the New Nazism.” Discussing terrorism in the West he said, “[The Americans] should be treated reciprocally. They reap what they sow.” He added, “I hope that every patriotic and Islamic Arab will participate in this war, and will shift the war not only to America, but to all corners … wherever America may be.” (See here.)
Anis al-Naqqash, who was involved in major terrorist attacks in Europe in the 1970s and 1980s and was released early from a French prison, appeared on Al-Manar on August 3, 2005: “The U.S. is the enemy of Arabs and Muslims … every person must resist it … if he can resist with weapons, it is his duty, mandated by the Koran.” He also said, “Any cleric with knowledge of Islam, must … declare Jihad against the U.S., England, and their allies.” (See here.)
Anti-Semitism on Al-Manar
Al-Manar’s jihad is not limited to Western countries. Much of the channel’s programming is devoted to anti-Semitic themes against the Jews, who are described as “apes and pigs.”
On November 29, Al-Manar TV hosted and covered a live symposium at Lebanon’s largest and only government-run university, Université Libanaise. Hisham Shamas, a student of political science, said, “Just like Hitler fought the Jews, we are a great Islamic nation of jihad, and we too should fight the Jews and burn them.” When another student, Mahmoud Fakhri, called for Israel “to be wiped off the map,” he asked the Al-Manar moderator if his statement was “too inciting.” “Go ahead and incite. This is what we’re looking for.” (See here.)
The French ban on Al-Manar for incitement against Jews in December 2004 enraged the Arab world. A spokesman for the Committee for Solidarity with Al-Manar, Ghaleb Qandil, said, “All the talk about anti-Semitism is meaningless nonsense … we Arabs are Semites, the offspring of the ‘Khazar’ Jews will not be the ones to judge how Semitic we are.” (See here.)
The Lebanese foreign ministry issued a statement explaining Al-Manar is “anti-Zionist, not anti-Semitic,” while President Lahoud of Lebanon called the charges of “anti-Semitism” an attempt “to mislead international public opinion.” As Lebanese government officials made such claims, Al-Manar aired a program about Jews spreading AIDS throughout the world.
Al-Manar’s anti-Semitic outlook is derived from Hezbollah’s interpretation of the Koran. The group’s one-time spiritual leader, Sheikh Muhammad Hussain Fadlallah, said in 1994 that the literal text of the Koran detailing “the negative aspects of the Jews … both in history and in the future” serves as a guide for Muslims.
A 1997 book on Hezbollah by a Reuters correspondent based in the Middle East, Hala Jaber, detailed how Al-Manar regularly broadcasted excerpts from the terrorist organization’s original manifesto. Citing Surat al-Maidah, Verse 82 of the Koran, the manifesto said Hezbollah’s “jihad” is a “religious obligation” and that “the animosity between Muslims and Jews goes back to the early days of Islam.”
Al-Manar’s children’s programming also includes antisemitic themes taken from Islamic teachings. For example, a claymation special from December 7 was titled “Stories from the Koran.” The program was based on a famous Hadith from Islamic history in which the Jews became apes and pigs. (See here.)
The head of Radio Islam in Sweden and one of Europe’s most notorious antisemitic Muslims, Ahmad Rami, appeared on Al-Manar on September 30 to explain that his beliefs are based on what “the Koran says, that our battle is with the Jews” and that “Judaism is a criminal and dangerous mafia.” (See here.)
Antisemitic incitement on Al-Manar is not drawn solely from interpretations of the Koran, but from classic antisemitic subject matter including the blood libel; Protocols of the Elders of Zion; Nazi forgeries; and attacks on Judaism.
Explaining how the Jews have “distorted the Torah,” the Mufti of Tripoli, Sheikh Taha Al-Sabonji appeared on Al-Manar on April 22, 2004, saying: “Those responsible for all civil strife … throughout history were the Jews. This is verified by anyone who has read Jewish literature and … the Koran.” On the same show, the secretary-general of the Islamic Universities Association, Dr. Jafar Abd Al-Salim, responded: “The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion clearly refer to this.” (See here.)
The president of the Middle East Center for Studies and Public Relations, Hisham Jaber, appeared on Al-Manar on July 11 to discuss the vileness of the Jews, claiming they were behind the attacks of September 11, 2001. He also said, “We know that since the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Zionism has forged the New Testament. … 60 million in the U.S. alone have left Christianity to become believers in the Torah. Global Zionism has tried to forge the Holy Koran.” (See here.)
A Lebanese journalist, Arafat Nizam Al-Din, quoted Nazi propaganda during a November 11, 2004, interview on Al-Manar. He added his own twist on American history and Jews with fictional antisemitic quotes from President Washington, President Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin. Similarly, Al-Manar aired a discussion by Dr. Ghazi Rababa, Professor of Political Science at Jordan University, on May 27, 2004: “President Jefferson told the American people in an official speech, ‘If you do not expel the Jews from your land, they will enslave you. … If we open the Talmud, the Jews’ false book, we see that.” (See here.)
Another one of the countless examples of such anti-Semitism on Al-Manar comes from the deputy head of the Palestinian Clerics Association, Sheik Muhammad Ali, who appeared on August 19 and spoke of wiping out the Jews and how the Zionists have forged the Torah and Talmud, and he quoted directly from the Koran to justify killing Jews. (See here.)
The Iranian Theocracy Launched Al-Manar & Continues to Support It
Hezbollah’s original secretary-general, Sheik Subhi Tufeili, once said, “To deny the Iranian aid issued to Hezbollah would be like denying that the sun provides light to the earth.” On February 16, 1985, Hezbollah released its manifesto bearing a picture of “our leader,” the Ayatollah Khomeini on the back cover. A Washington Post article from that year reported on “Iranian Revolutionary Guards carrying out their missionary work, indoctrinating the Lebanese Shiites in the spiritual and political teachings of Khomeini.”
Iran’s ideological and financial support of Hezbollah was detailed in Hala Jaber’s 1997 book on the terror organization: “Hezbollah is coy about revealing the sums it has received from Iran.” She added, “Reports have spoken on figures ranging from $5-$10 million per month.”
Hezbollah’s most important tool in spreading its ideology of death and celebration of martyrdom–heavily influenced by the Iranian theocracy–is the TV channel Al-Manar. With a multimillion-dollar headquarters in Beirut and as the Christian Science Monitor has reported, a budget that grew tenfold between 1991 and 2001 (some estimate its current annual budget to be between $10-$50 million), that the Iranian government is backing Al-Manar should come as no surprise. According to an article published by in the Transnational Broadcasting Studies’ winter-fall 2002 issue, “Iranian ayatollahs backed and helped to launch Al-Manar” and the channel’s first broadcast was of the 1989 funeral of the Ayatollah Khomeini.
In a June 2, 2002, interview on Al-Manar, the deputy secretary-general of Hezbollah, Sheik Naim Qasem, quoted the Iranian regime in explaining his organization’s position on Israel and jihad: “Muslims should annihilate Israel… Imam Khomeini said, ‘The goal of this virus [Israel] that was planted in the heart of the Islamic world. … The danger is to the whole Middle East… and the solution is in annihilating the virus.’” Mr. Qasem also described how good it was to see “a mother saying goodbye to her son, awaiting his return as a shahid [suicide bomber]…”
Hezbollah’s leader, Sheik Hassan Nassrallah, gave a speech on February 19, broadcast live on Al-Manar, containing both a threat to America and a salute to Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei: “If America … stops its aggression … we will have no problem with it. We don’t want to go to Washington to fight America.” He added, “How can death become joyous … sweeter than honey? Only through conviction, ideology, and faith … as the Leader Imam Khamenei said … the most honorable killing and the most glorious martyrdom is when a man is killed for the sake of Allah, by the enemies of Allah, the murderers of the prophets [i.e. the Jews].” (See here.)
Ms. Jaber’s book also detailed how Hezbollah TV incites Muslim youth to terrorism: “Al-Manar … is dominated by religious programs. Pictures and names of martyrs are screened, supported by verses from the Koran which glorify such deaths. The aim is simple, to indoctrinate the minds of the young … with the idea that those seek martyrdom will be rewarded with more pleasure than can ever be achieved during this earthly lifetime.”
Al-Arabiya TV aired a program on the celebration of martyrdom by Hezbollah and Al-Manar on August 19. In one scene, a young boy is shown viewing footage of a suicide bomber in a car that exploded. The boy said: “I love to watch him,” explaining it was his father. (See here.)
The mother of martyr Bassel Al-Din appeared on Al-Manar on May 22. She cried in happiness when telling the channel: “Bassel had a wish. … Whenever I told him I wanted to marry him off, he would say, ‘Yes, mother, you’ll marry me off like this in paradise.’ And indeed, the martyr Bassel got married in paradise. I congratulate the black-eyed virgins who took Bassel from me.” (See here.)
A November 11, 2004, “Mother’s Day Special” on Al-Manar featured comments from many mothers of martyrs. One stated, “All I want is martyrdom. I’m willing for all my children to become martyrs.” Another said, “It’s true I sacrificed a son, but others have sacrificed two or three. I hope more of my sons will become martyrs.” The Al-Manar moderator praised them and explained, “The reward of … all martyrs’ mothers is not in vain. … Not only locally, this is an experience that is now shared by all societies.” (See here.)
Al-Manar Incites Western Muslims
During the last week of January, Dutch authorities blocked the transmission of Al-Manar for spreading hate and stated the channel encourages the radicalization of Muslims and glorifies terrorist attacks.
In fact, since Hezbollah’s TV channel Al-Manar began broadcasting via satellite in 2000, it has been at the center of controversy throughout the West. In America, Canada, France, Australia, Spain, the Netherlands, and elsewhere, the channel has been banned in various capacities.
In 2003, Australia was first to censure Al-Manar. The Australian said by way of explanation, “The channel incites to terrorism.” During a Swedish parliament session on March 18, 2004, Mikael Oscarsson of the Christian Democratic Party asked Prime Minister Goran Persson to put an end to Al-Manar broadcasts in his country, describing them as “appalling propaganda of incitement” that “can only be compared with that of the Nazis.”
The French government banned Al-Manar in December 2004 for violating repeatedly the country’s anti-hate laws. America and Canada followed just days afterward. A State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher, said, “We don’t see why … a terrorist organization should be allowed to spread its hatred and incitement through the television airwaves.”
The Spanish government blocked transmission of Al-Manar on July 14, 2005. A conservative foreign affairs spokesman at the European Union, Charles Tannock, responded as follows: “Hezbollah uses Al-Manar to spread hatred and incite people to commit terrorist acts against innocent civilians … every effort must be now made by the E.U. to prevent further brainwashing of vulnerable young people by fundamentalist religious extremists.” He said Hezbollah ought “not be allowed to spread hate-filled propaganda on our continent.”
More recently on January 26, 2006 Dutch authorities blocked the transmission of Al-Manar for spreading hate, saying the channel encourages the radicalization of Muslims and glorifies terrorist attacks. Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner was quoted by the AFP as calling “for a European Union-wide solution to the problem of such television channels.”
It should be noted that some Arabs have also been critical of Al-Manar. In an interview with Al-Jazeera on July 26, 2004, a former Iraqi government minister, Hoshyan Zebari, accused Arab satellite channels of inciting violence–singling out Al-Manar. In November, the editor of the London Arabic daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, Tariq Al-Homayed, criticized “ideology-laden satellite channels” for causing damage to the Arab world, mentioning “Hezbollah’s channel Al-Manar.”
The channel does receive tremendous support from the Arab world and in particular from the Lebanese government. After the American ban, a former Lebanese premier, Salim Hoss, said, “The U.S. move was akin to granting Al-Manar a medal of honor. It is an official recognition of its genuine effectiveness.”
Lebanese government officials have explicitly stated Al-Manar is formally under its control. President Lahoud said on July 1, “Al-Manar is a national Lebanese consensus issue, and it is protected by Lebanese laws.” The director general of the Information Ministry, Hassan Falha, in August 2004 said, “Al-Manar is a Lebanese media institution working in abidance with the Lebanese laws and laws regulating media in Lebanon. The Lebanese government is concerned about the Al-Manar issues at all press, legal, diplomatic, and political levels.”
Following Al-Manar’s ban in the West, the editor-in-chief of the channel’s news division, Abdullah Shamseddine, told the Daily Star on December 20, 2004, “The damage is merely political …Viewers can still watch via NileSat and by adjusting their dishes to receive our signal. The same applies to South American countries.”
This strategy has not gone unnoticed by Western governments. E.U. spokesman Charles Tannock said on July 14, 2005, “I have asked the British Presidency of the E.U. to raise the matter with Egypt and Saudi Arabia, both of whom continue to operate satellites which broadcast Al-Manar across Europe.”
As the Muslim streets of Europe erupted earlier this winter over the publishing of cartoons of Islam’s prophet Muhammad, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Nasrallah made a statement covered by Al-Manar which could be interpreted as being directed toward Muslims in the West: “If there had been a Muslim to carry out Imam Khomeini’s fatwa against the renegade Salman Rushdie, this rabble who insult our Prophet Muhammad in Denmark, Norway, and France would not have dared to do so … I am sure there are millions of Muslims who are ready to give their lives to defend our prophet’s honor and we have to be ready to do anything for that.”
This quote represents the danger posed by Hezbollah and its TV channel. The blocking of Al-Manar’s assets and placing the channel on terror lists are positive developments, yet the real solution is to pressure the Lebanese government to pull the plug on Al-Manar.
–Steven Stalinsky is the Executive Director of The Middle East Media Research Institute.