CATM Removes Hezbollah's Al-Manar Television from Satellite Broadcasting into North and South America

Al-Manar off the air in U.S. after CATM alerts Hispamar satellite company to station's support for terrorism

Washington, D.C. (December 29, 2005) – The Coalition Against Terrorist Media (CATM) today praised satellite company Hispamar for removing the terrorist group Hezbollah's al-Manar television station from broadcast into North and South America.  This marks the second time that CATM has taken al-Manar off the airwaves in the United States and throughout the Americas.

“Al-Manar runs graphic videos encouraging viewers, even children, to become suicide bombers and calls for acts of terrorism against civilians,” said Mark Dubowitz, COO of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, which organized CATM.  “Al-Manar is an operational weapon in the hands of one of the world's most dangerous terrorist organizations.”

“We applaud Hispamar for quickly ending al-Manar broadcasts over its Amazonas satellite after we alerted them to its incitement to violence and support for terrorism,” Dubowitz continued. “By removing al-Manar, Hispamar is ending a very real threat.  Hezbollah is known to have terror cells in more than 14 major American cities. It conducts illegal operations, including drug smuggling, throughout the Americas.  And it demonstrated its ability and willingness to strike on this side of the Atlantic when its terrorists killed more than 100 innocent civilians in two bombings in Argentina.”

With Hispamar's decision, CATM and its allies have now been instrumental in removing al-Manar from eight satellites around the world, including two other satellites broadcasting into the United States and Latin America.

In December 2004, at CATM's urging, the U.S. State Department designated al-Manar as a terrorist organization.  The same day, the Intelsat satellite company dropped al-Manar from broadcast in the United States and Canada.

On June 23, 2005, following intensive consultations with CATM and its allies, the government of Spain issued a press release denouncing al-Manar's terrorist messages and removed al-Manar from broadcast over Hispasat, which reached all of Latin America.

Hispamar is a Brazilian company and branch of Hispasat.  Its Amazonas satellite had broadcast al-Manar until being alerted by CATM about the station's support for terrorism.

Al-Manar is still broadcast to the Middle East, Europe and North Africa by Nilesat, whose major shareholder is the government of Egypt, and Arabsat, which is owned in part by the government of Saudi Arabia.  Al-Manar's broadcasts include commercials glorifying suicide bombers and encouraging others to join their ranks; viciously anti-American and anti-Semitic material, including the infamous and false “blood libel” depicting Jews killing a child to make Passover Matzah; and music videos calling for suicide bombers to attack coalition soldiers in Iraq.

CATM is a project of the non-partisan Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (www.defenddemocracy.org), a policy institute that focuses on defeating terrorism and promoting democracy.

For more information on al-Manar and CATM's efforts to remove it from worldwide broadcast, please visit www.stopterroristmedia.org.