France and Al-Manar TV [Archives:2004/799/Opinion]

The latest decision by a French court to order the satellite TV broadcasts of Al-Manar Television satellite channel is a clear case of some tough arm twisting justice as only can be carried out by the International Zionist establishment. No one is surprised by the continuous efforts of the Zionist lobby to prevent any efforts of the Arabs to portray their side of the story in the Arab-Israeli conflict. What is surprising however that a magistrate of the French Republic would allow himself to incline towards the wishes of the Zionist lobby at the expense of the French ideals of liberty and justice. Since when are the airwaves of France assigned to only whatever is favorable to Zionist chauvinism, whereas anything that seeks to portray that there are really two sides to the story in the Middle East is declared unholy by the Zionist establishment and subject to censorship and rejection by legal proceedings that have no precedence in any democratic society. Why all this fuss about an Arab television channel that broadcasts in Arabic (except for a few news bulletins in English, French and Hebrew? Ironically, the issue is not so much an Arab station as it is the cool and dignified broadcasting of the Al-Manar Channel. Al-Manar Channel is the television mouthpiece of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Islamic Resistance Movement that has proven itself on the ground as a successful adversary against the Israeli military machine, with all its sophistication and stockpile of military hardware. Because of the finesse that Hezbollah has shown in confronting the Israeli military power on the ground, and the obvious sophistication of its broadcasting media, manifested by Al-Manar, the Israelis are fearful of Al-Manar's capability of delivering the Arab side of the Arab-Israeli conflict in effective language and format that is attracting the attention of the European audiences. Al-Manar does not seek to portray this Arab side through hate mongering or senseless diatribes, but rather applies a modern professional media technique that matches the modern professional military acumen that Hezbollah has shown on the ground against Israel. That is more threatening to the Zionist establishment than having an Arab TV station projecting a more belligerent and aggressive stance. The Zionists know that the sensible media agenda followed by Hezbollah is belying the image that the Zionist establishment has often projected the Arabs by, which the French judicial system has not done anything to prevent, notwithstanding its derogatory projection of the Arabs throughout the western media, including France.
Incidentally, just recently the Al-Manar Channel reached an agreement with the French satellite broadcasting company that runs the satellite transmission over the French airwaves and it was believed that should placate the Zionist lobby in France as Al-Manar has agreed to avoid any broadcasting that might be construed as anti-“Semitism” (Imagine an Arab being anti-“Semitic!). But that is not the issue with the Zionist lobby. They do not want any Arabs to have a chance to counter the massive waves of Zionist propaganda that not only presents the Arab-Israeli conflict in a false and twisting manner, but actually is flooded with racial implications and misrepresentations about Arab culture and the Islamic religion. No, the issue is not racial bias or ethnic tolerance. There is really no apparent religious hatred against Jews or Christians in Al-Manar, but rather a simple case of upholding the legitimate rights of the Arabs who have been the victims of one of the ugliest chauvinistic movement of modern times, which the Zionist establishment really represents. It is this chauvinism that should be portrayed in its real ugly image, which Al-Manar projects over the airwaves, in a sophisticated and effective manner and this is what is bugging the Zionist lobby in France.
Ever since the Europeans were shown to believe that it is Israel that is representing the real danger to peace in the world about a year ago, the Zionist establishment in Europe has sought to prevent any media access by the Arabs in Europe in more ways than one. On top of projecting the objective views of the Europeans as no more than being “anti-“Semitism”, which is an ugly monster the Europeans are constantly threatened with anytime the Zionist establishment faces criticism on a large scale by individuals or human rights groups, especially in Europe. Undoubtedly, the stance of the majority of the Europeans, even in countries which are thought to be highly supportive of Israel, awakened the Zionist establishment that their dominance of the media channels in the West is not proving to be successful in making Europeans realize that human suffering is simply unacceptable, especially when it is instigated by a movement which professes to be the manifestation of modern western civilization in the region.
Al-Manar is a sophisticated media that ap0parently projects Moslems as capable of comprehending western ideals and techniques and moreover seeks to project Islam as a highly moderate and tolerant spiritual orientation, while noting that it is the Israelis who are the real religious demagogues in the region. This is also what is bugging the Zionist establishment, which often hides the truth about Islam and tends to project Moslems as barbarians, who must be confronted by the “West”, if western civilization is to be saved. But all this bigotry and hatred, which has been instilled in western media by the Zionist establishment for the last fifty years or so is not worthy of being challenged by the French judiciary. One would expect Al-Manar to take its case to the highest levels of appeal and it is hoped that more a more astute adjudication of the case would be rendered, if France is to continue to represent the citadel of freedom and liberty whether on the ground or in the airwaves.
——
[archive-e:799-v:13-y:2004-d:2004-12-16-p:opinion]