There's been serious tension between the Mubarak regime and Hezbollah ever since a terror cell was busted in the Sinai.
Now, the fallout is reaching Al-Manar, Hezbollah's TV station, which — till now, at least — reaches millions of Arab homes on Nilesat, Egypt's state-run satellite service. YNet News writes:
The petition maintains that the Shiite-affiliated station recently began broadcasting false news reports about Egypt. Among these, al-Manar was said to have accused Egypt of collaborating with the United States, promoting Jewish interests and trying to "implement the Zionist agenda."
It's purely Egyptian self-interest. Until 2007, Nilesat also beamed Al-Qaida's Al-Zawraa TV; Egyptian authoriities only pulled the plug due to US pressure. (Al-Zawraa has since "resurfaced in Syria under the name of Al-Rai TV," according to Memri,)
Hezbollah apologists will no doubt say that putting an end to Al-Manar broadcasts violates free speech. But the Washington Times debunked that argument in 2006 after the US Treasury Dept. designated the station as a terrorist entity:
Al Manar had hoped to stave off the designation as a terrorist entity by framing criticism of its connection to Hezbollah as an effort to deprive it of its First Amendment rights. But as the Treasury Department made clear, the issue is not al Manar's role as a television station but its role in facilitating the activities of Hezbollah, an organization that has killed more Americans than every other terrorist group save al Qaeda.
"Any entity maintained by a terrorist group — whether masquerading as a charity, a business or a media outlet — is as culpable as the terrorist group itself," said Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey.
Nilesat reaches millions of homes in northern Africa, southern Europe and the Arabian peninsula.
Related reading: Terrorist Television
