Illustration By Carlos Latuff

By Franklin Lamb* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz

Part II: Israel and H.R. 2278 vs. Lebanon's Al Manar TV et al. (Part I here!)

"Al Manar is being singled out by the US Israel lobby precisely because it excels as a responsible TV channel that demands and applies the highest industry standards and because Israeli and Western viewers trust its news broadcasts more than they do much of their own media"
An Advisor to the Dean, Columbia University School of Broadcast Journalism, New York City 12/26/09

Having inherited the Bush administrations rising stack of terrorism lists, President Obama's team had expressed interest in culling them "so they are more accurate and manageable and Americans experience less stress", according to Homeland Security director Janet Napolitano. These lists, plus the reported existence of others that have not been made public, are supposed to reduce the fear and stress on Americans just knowing there are such lists and that someone is 'watching out'.

In many cases travelers experience more stress because they never know when Transportation Security Authority (TSA) agents at airports might eye a 'hit' on a computer screen, lung into action and ruin a trip. Duplicate names on various lists plus the difficulty of getting oneself off the lists have led to increasing pressure on The Obama administration to refine the concept of who really is a terrorist. The various "T" and watch lists are swelling annually by thousands of names-some quite similar leading to confusion and uncertainly who really is and isn't on and who is on but shouldn't be and vice versa.
As of Christmas Eve, the 'Terrorism Watch List' reportedly included some 900,000 names with a "selectee" list with somewhere close to 30,000 people within the higher-risk category, and a "no-fly" list with an estimated 10,000 names of people who are not allowed to board planes. Today it's anyone's guess who is on but shouldn't be and who is off but should be on. All passengers departing the US may face more delays and physical' pat downs' of any part of their bodies and possibly being watched in bathrooms, according to the TSA. Calls are increasing for full body scanning devices to be installed and used on anyone who wants to fly. Meanwhile, on 12/26/09, President Obama issued instructions to his administration "that all appropriate measures be taken to increase security for air travel".

As Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab is interviewed to find out how he got on a US bound flight, since he was known to be in contact with Al Qaeda in Yemen, the US 'T' lists remain a riddle inside a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, as Winston Churchill once described both Russia and Jane Austen.

Updating the 'T' lists: How a Lebanese TV Station got included

Professor Noam Chomski, among others has noted that no person or organization should be placed or kept on a US Terrorism list unless there is compelling evidence that they pose a clear and present danger to America, and certainly not news organizations.

One such media outlet is Lebanon's Al Manar TV Channel, affiliated with Hezbollah, leader of the Lebanese National Resistance.

The "case" against Al Manar has never been convincingly explained since the Bush administration, on 17 December 2004 added Al Manar to a post 9/11 terrorist list at the behest of Israel's then Prime Ministry Ehud Olmert.

According to Reporters without Borders, a press freedom organization, the listing appeared unjustified given no offered evidence of Al Manar being involved in terrorism. In addition, there was the fact that the Al Manar Channel was the first media anywhere to carry Hezbollah's condemnation of the 9/11 attacks on New York's World Trade Center. Reporters Without Borders, urged the US authorities to "take care not to lump the fight against unproven anti-Semitism with the fight against terrorism and putting this TV station in the same category as terrorist groups worries us and does not strike us as the best solution." As if RWB foresaw H.R. 2278, the NGO warned, "We fear that this measure could be just the first of many others, and that all news media that have been accused of helping terrorist organizations in their coverage could end up on this list, in which case there will definitely be abuses."

The three other air terrorism attempts against the US were also denounced on Al Manar, including the latest one claimed by Al Qaeda, Hezbollah's mortal enemy which on 12/28/09 called on "the people of the Arabian peninsula to attack American military installations, ships and "spying embassies." The U.S. Embassy in Yemen was attacked by Al Qaeda-affiliated terrorists in September 2008, and the U.S.S. Cole, a U.S. Navy destroyer, was hit by Al Qaeda in 2000. All these attacks were condemned on Al Manar. Beirut's US Embassy and its personnel have been protected more by Hezbollah, from Al Qaeda and its affiliates, than the State Department would likely care to admit or may actually know about.

The main 'evidence' offered by the US State and Treasury departments was that Al Manar was "anti-Semitic" for criticizing Israel was its showing the Syrian produced 29 Part television series, The Diaspora. Al Manar aired this series during October-November 2003.

The popular series, surveys the history of the founding of the Zionist movement until the creation of the state of Israel. It includes discussions of some subjects sensitive to the Zionist movement including claimed Zionist-Nazi cooperation, alleged Zionist involvement in plotting the Russian Revolution, claims of Zionist pressure on US President Harry Truman to use Atomic bombs against Japan and later to recognize the establishment of the State of Israel on Arab land, ignoring the rights of the Arab population.

One example of claimed "Diaspora" anti-Semitism was the challenged statement of an alleged Zionist leader talking to Adolf Eichmann and telling the SS official, "Mr. Eichmann, believe me that if we Zionists were not Jewish, we would have been Nazis. You Nazis consider the Aryan race to belong to the perfect people and the German people as the most perfect. We also consider ourselves a perfect people, and Zionists, the most perfect ones."

According to the US based Anti-Defamation League, this statement is not accurate but rather was based on the 1982 comment of Ariel Sharon in which he was reported to have said to Menachem Begin, while arguing in favor of invading Lebanon, "The Nazi's of course were correct Prime Minister, they just chose the wrong people to persecute", implying that killing of the Roma gypsies, homosexuals, the disabled, French and Russian prisoners, and Polish citizens was acceptable as was the likely 20,000 deaths estimated to occur during Israel's invasion of Lebanon.

Stereotypical myths about Jews do appear in the documentary, as clichés.. Specifically in the form of repeating the unproven 1840 accusation that the Damascus Jewish community murdered a priest and his assistant to obtain their blood for making Passover matzo, unleavened bread. The Diaspora series also includes some unproven accusations from the discredited 1891 Russian Protocols of the Elders of Zion about Rabbi's sanctioning the killing of Christian children.

Al Manar management apologized for airing the series, dropped it and explained that the Station had purchased it without first viewing the entire series. Al Manar's lawyer at the time, Frenchman, Dinis Garreau added that the broadcast of the series had been "unfortunate" and asked for a chance to demonstrate that such airings would not be repeated, while adding that Al Manar's management was in agreement that showing the series was a mistake, and that it violated Al Manar's Professional Values and Principles for verifying information before it is aired. He explained that Hezbollah is well known for its frequent differentiation between Judaism and Zionism, believing Jews, as 'people of the book' are to accorded the same respect as Christian and Muslims (see "The Professional Values & Principles of Al Manar Channel,, paragraph 19 and Al Manar's Values and Principles pages, 6, 7.and 12, published by the Lebanese Communication Group, Beirut, 2009). On the other hand, as with most people in the Middle East, and increasing beyond, Hezbollah believes that Zionism is a 19th Century racist colonial enterprise which must be expelled from Palestine, and is committed to the Right of Return of those ethnically cleansed during the Nakba and their offspring-now living in 59 camps in Palestine, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.

In 2004, the Diaspora series was shown in Iran. And then in Jordan during October 2005 on Al-Mamnou, a Jordanian satellite network. Not a murmur from the Bush administration was heard in either case about anti-Semitism and millions have since viewed the Diaspora series without apparent complications.

On 12/16/04, US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the decision to put Al Manar on the Terrorist Exclusion List (T list # 2 in Department of Homeland Security lingo) was taken because of "Al Manar's incitement of terrorist activity." Al-Manar's Foreign Editor Ibrahim Mousawi replied to BBC News, that the proposed ban resulted from "political pressure by the Jewish lobby". "We are not anti-Semites and we do not incite hatred," he insisted.

The Bush administration did not acknowledge Al Manar's explanation and the TV channel remains on the 'T" list. The standard of "incitement of terrorism" has been recently change, one reason being that for the past five years no evidence of "incitement of terrorism" involving Al Manar (or Hezbollah) has been documented by the CIA despite requests for proof from the US Senate Intelligence Committee. This failure of the CIA to support the Israel lobby case disappointed Tel Aviv and led AIPAC to craft a new standard which is now being used in H.R. 2278. The new applicable standard is "incitement of violence against American citizens." This new language is believed by many lawyers and the Center for Constitutional Rights, based in New York, to be too broad to constitute a legal basis for prosecution. This view is not of concern to the US Israel lobby since its goal are not judicial prosecutions but rather intimidation--of more than 400 channels operating in 19 Middle East countries.

Lest other Middle East countries than Lebanon think they can escape the wide net of H.R. 2278, according to a 12/16/09 report in the Egyptian daily Al-Mesryoon, "The American administration intends to threaten the blocking or reduction of American aid offered to Egypt each year in order to pressure the Egyptian government into discontinuing the broadcasting of a number of satellite channels ( reportedly at least ten in number) airing from Egypt via the Egyptian NileSat, under claims that they are violating the new 'incitement' standard and are attacking American policies in the region."

Al Manar as "inciter of violence against American citizens"

Concerning the claim that Al Manar is anti-American, the channel regularly invites American and western guests to discuss all manner of subjects. Indeed, American and western achievements and beliefs in human rights, scientific achievements, protection for women, are featured and openly admired.

The evidence from scholars, including years of Al Manar program monitoring by Professor Anne Marie Baylouny, Assistant Professor of Comparative politic at the Naval Postgraduate School in California suggests that H.R. 228 is not even applicable to Al Manar and its programming, but rather that the Lebanese station is being scapegoated for purely political motives.( please see: "Not Your Father's Islamist TV: Changing Programming on Hizbullah's al-Manar (PDF)," Arab Media & Society (Issue 9, Fall 2009). http://www.arabmediasociety.com/?article=728)

The claimed xenophobia of Hezbollah to the West is nowhere to be found in Al Manar programming and while political programs are critical of US Middle East policy, no more so than some programs aired in all 50 States in America. Often, on these programs, American scientific studies are used to support a debate thesis. Guests are international with many being from America, often with Lebanese expatriates.

Al Manar's Professional Values & Principles as outlined in its publication by the Lebanese Communication Group, noted above, has been described as being as rigorous as any in the industry. And they are applied with respect to fairness, admitting mistakes, respects for women and youth, encouragement of dialogue, sensitivity for the public's distaste for offensive materials and profanity, and working to achieve transparency, independence, and objectivity.

Al Manar strictly applies its rules relating to completion with other channels as well as its standards for interviewing, respect for all religions, privacy, prohibition on secret recording, and 'gotcha' or 'ambush' interviews, disclosing sources and exhibiting respect for the audience.

Some examples of its rigorous application of these rules can be found in recent programs where: a hostess disconnected a caller who refused to an Israeli leader as "a dog", a hostess ignoring a caller who insisted that Lebanon should look only to Islamic solutions for domestic problems, such as spousal abuse and not Western ideas, and Al Manar hosts or hostesses often correcting a guest for repeating stereotypes.

Some facts about Al Manar that American and French citizens can't learn by watching their TV sets at home given that this Lebanese Channel is banned in both countries in violation of international customary law and numerous conventions requiring protection for journalists, free access to the airwaves, and freedom of speech. Only via Internet free steaming can these viewers watch Al Manar live. Something it is sure those who voted for H.R. 2278 did not do before they rushed to judgement.

- As Hezbollah has 'Lebanonized' following its 1992 entrance into politics and its expulsion of Israel in 2000, its dramatic changes are reflected in Al Manar TV programing.

- Al Manar demonstrates Hezbollah's evolution over the past quarter century and the parties desire to reach out to its former adversaries by its integration with the multi-religious community that is Lebanon, particularly with programming for youth and women;

- The bulk of Al Manar programs have nothing to do with Hezbollah, the resistance to Israel's occupation of Palestine or Shia religious beliefs.

- Women without veils dominate much of the programming with only about 90 minutes per day having to do with praying or religious subjects;

- Christians are frequently invited as experts and audience members including priests, bishops and non-believers from the west without regard to personal beliefs;

- Al Manar's programming regularly promotes values considered western such as individual and human rights, and non-violence.

- Al Manar programs frequently discuss subjects critical of some aspects of a patriarchal system including examining domestic violence, rights of women, shared household chores, violent videos games etc.

- Al Manar programs generally feature more of an Oprah style of discussion rather than a Pat Robertson or Fox TV approach. A common theme is encouraging civil society to volunteer and help those in society who need assistance;

- Al Manar is viewed by a broad array of broadcasting analysts in Lebanon and abroad, as progressive in the sense that it focuses attention on women, youth, and civil society with multi-communal aspects of programming that is in contrast to the Lebanese norm of media promoting the sponsor's particular confession. (please see Baylouny cite above)

- Al Manar programming involves the participation all of Lebanon's sects and the acceptance of diverse lifestyles and ideas beyond the communities with which Hezbollah is politically allied;

- Programming eschews the affirmation of violence In daily lives, and tend to avoid religious preaching or proselytizing found on many western evangelical channels;

- For the past decade there is no evidence in any Al Manar programming, as claimed by MEMRi and AIPAC of "bomb making classes.

- Foreign soap operas, including unveiled and scantily-clad women, and men's and women's personal problems are shown uncut and uncensored.

- Al Manar is said by Haaretz to be the most popular TV Channel in Israel as it is in Jordan and much of the region during conflicts and for news of the Palestinian resistance. The reason is because of its trusted coverage and up to the minute reports, often with reporters embedded close to fighters at the front and resisters on the West Bank and in Gaza. It is also the most popular channel in Lebanon's 12 Palestinian Refugee camps.

- Several of Al Manar's programs parallel US and western public broadcasting such as PBS, featuring "Discovery" type features on animals, agriculture, the environment, nature and children's programs including puppet shows warning about bad habits such as smoking, drugs, and alcohol.

The MEMRI claim that Al Manar program showed puppets of children stabbing US President George W. Bush turned out to fake and part of its disinformation project named 'Sampson', according to a former MEMRI employee.

Islamic-Arab model of broadcast quality or mouthpiece for anti-American incitement?

Al Manar has won more International Awards for its programming than any other International Channels in its category, including more than 76 Awards for excellence in broadcasting between 1998 and November of 2009. One internationally coveted award was received from the 8th Cairo Television and Radio Festival where Al Manar won the most awards. In 2008 it was awarded the prestigious Thompson Prize from the BBC for the best documentary. Al Manar's subject was Lebanon's Pollution crisis.

A random sampling of Al Manar broadcasting awards during a 48 month period is illustrative of the scope and variety of reorganization the Channel received for its programming: Cairo Festival for Radio and Television Supreme Committee Award - the documentary film "Observatory" 1998, Beirut Documentary Film Festival prize for the documentary film "victors" 1999, United Nations Prize in Beirut-the first prize for "sustainable development" 1999 ,The first exhibition of the media Beirut Award "the best television station from" 200l, The first exhibition of the media Beirut Award "the best sports program GOAL" 2001, The first exhibition of the media Beirut Award "the best cultural program and pen N" 2001, Arab States Broadcasting Union Gold Award program "evidence of time" 2002, Ebona Festival - France award for a news report "Donkey stuck in the minefield," 2002.

A typical broadcast day at Al Manar starts with Prayers just like the other religiously oriented stations in Lebanon. Then the News, followed by Manar's Morning show, a talk show, program for youth, travel, soap opera, and often five hours per day of live programs on issues of interest to the Lebanese such as social or family problems. The public is involved with with guests and callers urged to participate. Most Al Manar programming is all about participation, dialogue, and discussion.

A teaching assistant at Harvard's school of communications, studying Al Manar programming, offered her opinion: "Frankly, the same agility and competence Hezbollah exhibits on the battlefield its TV channel replicates on the TV screen. Al Manar is deliberative, analytical, state of the art, dedicated, and innovative. Both Hezbollah's military wing and its TV Channel come from the same culture and if channeled, no pun intended, they will to continue to lead the way to remarkable achievements."

Many Americans and Westerners in Beirut choose Al Manar TV News in English on the internet (http://almanar.com.lb/newsSite/News.aspx?language=en) for the latest news on Lebanon, Palestine, and the region because it is usually first in presenting details with accuracy as well as sound analysis.

Time for the State and Treasury departments of show their cards?

To say that there is no justification for the Al Manar TV Channel to be on the US Terrorism is an understatement. That any TV station is on the list is a disgrace and humiliation for fair minded Americans everywhere and makes a mockery of the First Amendment to our Constitution. It undermines cherished American principles which we hope could someday make us, to embellish a bit John Winthrop's 1630 description of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, "a shining beacon on a hill." Admittedly we have lost ground the past few decades but the objective remains valid.

Al Manar will survive and likely its audience will continue to grow despite being targeted by H.R. 2278 and other efforts to silence its quality programming and to prevent the American public from judging for themselves the worth Al Manar's programming. Denied the right to view certain TV channels, the American people may someday judge harshly those who facilitated US-Israel lobby efforts at destroying free speech, and undermining the American public's national interest in protecting and preserving it.

Its remains for the US Embassy in Lebanon to publicly and thoroughly explain this latest Israel-US project and for the Lebanese government to take measures to protect its communications from Israeli initiated attacks such as H.R. 2278.

Just as every time a 'dud' US cluster bomb or land mine in South Lebanon or the Bekaa detonates and kills or injures someone and that explosion constitutes another aggression by Israel against Lebanon, so it is that H.R. 2278 targeting of Al Manar Television and more than 400 other Middle East Television channels is an aggression against all of these countries.

Presumably Lebanon's President and Parliament will make known their views of projects like H.R. 2278 to the White House and Congress and encourage the 22 member League of Arab States and the 57 member International Organization of the Islamic Conference to raise this issue publicly and demand that the US government drop this assault on free speech in the Middle East.

Now that Lebanon has a two year tenured seat on the UN Security Council, which has the responsibility under the UN Charter to address "all threats to International Peace and Security", the effort to intimidate Middle East satellite providers and hundreds of TV Channels in the region will no doubt be placed on the Security Council's agenda.

* Franklin Lamb is working in Lebanon for the enactment of Civil Rights Legislation for Lebanon's Palestinian Refugees in the new Parliament. He can be reached at fplamb@gmail.com

Illustration By Carlos Latuff

By Franklin Lamb* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz

Part I: Targeting Lebanon's Al Manar

"Regarding Al Manar it's personal for Israel. The reason is that Al Manar did to the Israeli government propaganda machine during and following the July 2006 war what Hezbollah fighters did to Israeli troops. Al Manar kicked butt. That station must be made to disappear. The plan is to stop the 15-20 million daily viewers of Al Manar from receiving its transmission and well as to intimidate all the other Middle East TV channels that are suspected of moving toward the growing 'Culture of Resistance' spreading in the Middle East from Lebanon." A Washington DC observer of how Israel controls the US Congress 12/9/09

Lebanon is a small country, approximately 0.7% the size of Connecticut with a population a bit more than 1% of America's. But according to the four public US 'Terrorist' and Watch lists and at least seven supposedly secret US 'T lists' there are more Lebanese 'terrorists' and 'inciters' on the loose per square meter of planet Earth than any other nationality. Way more than say Iraq, Iran, Syria, Afghanistan or Pakistan could reasonably hope to muster. Increasingly these 'terrorists and inciters' work is claimed by some in the US Congress to be done via satellite TV channels. Such is the thesis of Congressman Gus Bilirakis, the 'author' of the 122nd US Congressional anti-Arab, anti-Muslim initiative in the past decade now known as the "Terrorist TV" Bill which passed the House on 12/08/09 and is now before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Taking out the 'TV Terrorists' Enter Gus Bilirakis: A fresh Lobby Frontman

Veteran Congressional staffers sometimes identify the following four general groupings of supporters of Israel in Congress:

- Jewish members who care a lot about Israel and some of whom may or may not be ardent Zionists but who generally, but not always, put Israel's concerns first;

- Evangelical Christians, who are eager to advance end-times, believe in Biblical prophecy and that Armageddon is rapidly approaching and strongly supports Israel over Arabs and Muslims in the Holy land conflict;

- Ultra Zionists with elements of racist feelings towards Arabs and Muslims;

- Members who normally don't favor Israelis much over Arabs or Muslims in their normal lives but who are regularly collared by the Israel lobby and who get the message and want to keep their congressional seats and add to their generous $100,000 –plus yearly pensions and are willing to 'go along to get along' and generally will do AIPAC's bidding.

Gus Bilirakis, Reagan Republican from Florida's 9th District is from this latter category. Filling the seat his late father Michael held since 1983, "Congressman Gus" as he prefers to be known back home, has the reputation of being a nice, affable fellow who does not claim to know much about the Middle East or foreign affairs. Hard to stereotype as being a fanatic supporter of Israel, gross Islamophobe or Arab basher, Bilirakis basically wants to get along by going along. AIPAC likes him because he appears 'regular American' and not too 'neurotically pro Israel.' as one of his District office interns explained, adding that "our boss is ordinary, folksy, and just wants to help the simple people." Certainly he appears to fit the recent AIPAC mode shift of lining up more conservative members of Congress to do Israel's bidding and to pull back a bit from the type casted "Liberal Jewish establishment" stereotype. By selecting Gus to introduce H.R. 2278, AIPAC and friends scored a public relations bonus.

Gus told his District's Bay 9 News TV station on 12/9/09 that:
"My legislation will provide the United States with critical baseline information to combat media outlets that serve as vehicles for violent anti-American incitement," said Bilirakis, who is a member of the House Committees on Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security. "Given the danger such incitement and radicalization poses to Americans both at home and aboard, it is crucial that these tools of terror be distinguished from reputable news outlets."
We already spend too much on foreign aid to countries that take our money with one hand and slap us with the other. This legislation will help us ratchet down foreign aid to countries who take this approach."

Bilirakis' reputed suspicion towards 'foreigners' may be part of his general conservatism. The American Conservative Union Chairman, David Keene, noted during an award ceremony in May of 2009 that Gus scored "way higher than the 80% necessary to win ACU's top award during the second session of the 110th Congress. In a short space of time, Congressman Bilirakis has already shown he is someone grass roots conservatives in Florida and elsewhere who love Israel will be turning to for future leadership."

The Washington DC based "U.S. Campaign to End the Occupation" a pro Middle East Peace advocacy group saw things differently and gave Gus a -4 rating on its just released Congressional Report Card for the 111th Congress, which was barely above the worst rating assigned to any member of Congress, earned by Illeana Ros-Lehtinen (who represents Florida's 18th District including the Florida everglades opposite Havana , Cuba, about which she likes to joke, "on a clear day I can see Havana and keep an eye on the Castro boys", reminding some of Sarah Palin learning about foreign affairs by watching Russia from her bob sled), who kept her position from the 110th on the groups 'Hall of Shame' with a -5 score. Gus calls Ileana 'my main Middle East tutor'.

How HR 2286 can save America from 'terrorists and inciters'

The 'TV Terrorist' bill passed on a House roll call vote, while, as is the norm, an eager AIPAC staffer in the front row of the House Visitor's Gallery with clip board and pen in hand, peered down on the Floor keeping tabs on how the Members voted. As is the Congressional practice with 'Israel Bills' or Psych-War Resolutions Israel wants passed, the vote on H.R. 2278 was held under a suspension of the rules to cut debate short and pass it quickly with the needed two-thirds majority. This fast track is normally used for relatively minor items like honoring "butterfly watchers day", "national be kind to fat stray cats day" etc. The totals were 395 Ayes, 3 Nays, 36 Present/Not Voting- a slightly above average tally when AIPAC sends a legislative request 'up the Hill.'

H.R. 2278 is what some employees in Congress call "a sleeper bill". Legislation that is quickly and quietly passed, without much public notice, but which is very powerful in its effect. The language of the Bill, while far overbroad and many first Semester law students would no doubt hammer it on Constitutional Law grounds, and some lawyers think a case brought under this law would be nearly impossible to prosecute, this legislation, if it passes the Senate, will de jure establish that "It shall be the policy of the United States of America to designate as a Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT) any satellite provider in the Middle East (including Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen) that knowingly and willingly contracts with entities designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorists under Executive Order No. 13224, to broadcast their channels, or to consider implementing other punitive measures against satellite providers that transmit anti-American declarations (read criticize US support for Israeli crimes) or incite violence against Americans.

Bilirakis' bill also requires that state-sponsorship of anti-American incitement to violence be taken into account when determining the level of assistance to, and frequency and nature of relations with, all states (Ed: such as Lebanon whose hoped for millions in US aid could be stopped) and urges " all governments and private investors who own shares in satellite companies or otherwise influence decisions about satellite transmissions to oppose transmissions of telecasts by... al-Manar ... or any other Specially Designated Global Terrorist owned and operated stations that openly incite their audiences to commit acts of terrorism or violence against the United States and its citizens."

The Bill also provides that beginning 6 months after the date of the enactment of the new law and annually thereafter, the President must prepare a report on anti-American incitement to violence in the Middle East including a description of all media outlets in the Middle East for program and news broadcast scrutiny.
Congressional sources report that the political goal is to stop the 10-15 million daily viewers of Al Manar from receiving its transmission as well as to intimidate other Middle East TV channels that are suspected of moving toward the growing "Culture of Resistance' in the Middle East.

More than 600 Middle East TV channels risk being closed down among the 19 target Countries listed in H.R. 2278. Some of the most strident criticism of America comes from Israeli colonists and extremist Rabbi's in occupied Palestine.

'MEMRI as Congressional staff'

Part of the job description of all Congressional staff employees who works on legislation includes doing research in support of proposed legislation or to demonstrate to the Member who employees them the need for a new law. This system by and large works in the US Congress except for the Middle East. This area of inquiry is hands off for all but ardent supporters of Israel.

One Congressional staffer who recently retired after 28 years working on the hill, noted on 12/13/09:
"It used to be that Congressional staffers actually did research and wrote recommendations for their bosses around here. Those days are long gone when it comes to Middle East issues. The Israel lobby handles all that now. If staffers want to be heard on Middle East issues from Iran to Palestine, they are discouraged. If they persist they run the risk of being targeted for unemployment by AIPAC and their bosses may cut them loose rather than confront the Lobby. In essence Israel is saying to Congressional staffers, "Listen up! We know best and will handle Congressional Middle East legislation. Just get out of the kitchen, leave this to us and busy yourselves elsewhere."

Those who demonstrated to Congress the urgent need for a "TV Terrorism" law included the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

This was confirmed by the office of Congressman Gus Bilirakis and indeed the Congressman himself noted that 'research' provided by MEMRI helped to establish the need for the new legislation.

MEMRI supplied the video excepted from Al Manar and cited by the sponsors as 'evidence' of incitement against Americans by the station and its satellite provider because it broadcasts the speeches of Hezbollah leaders on special occasions, as does virtually every other TV news channel in the Middle East that transmit at least portions of the speeches which are popular across the region. In fact all the video shows in spliced together excerpts from two speeches Hassan Nasrallah gave and two by his deputy Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Naim Qassim. They contain no incitement against Americans but rather criticism of Israel and of US support for Israel that can be heard any day of the week in all 50 States in the US.

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) describes itself as a "free media monitoring service." Based in Washington DC with half a dozen offices set up in countries including China, Tokyo, Germany, England, Italy and Israel, MEMRI was founded in 1998 by Yigal Carmon, a former colonel in Israeli military intelligence and its first three employees were also veterans of Israeli intelligence. Following 9/11 and George W. Bush's executive order 13222 and the unleashing of the War on Terrorism, MEMRI shed much of its earlier pretense of being objective and became stridently anti-Arab and anti-Muslim.

Increasingly, MEMRI's work has been criticized on three grounds: that their work is biased; that they choose articles to translate selectively so as to give an unrepresentative view of the media they are reporting on; and that their translations are frequently inaccurate.

The Middle East editor for the UK Guardian newspaper, Brian Whitaker has been one of the most outspoken critics of MEMRI, writing: "My problem with MEMRI is that it poses as a research institute when it's basically a propaganda operation, "to further the political agenda of Israel."

Several critics have accused MEMRI of selectivity. They state that MEMRI consistently picks for translation and dissemination the most extreme views, which portray the Arab and Muslim world in a negative light, while ignoring moderate views that are often found in the same media outlets.

Juan Cole, Professor of Modern Middle East History at the University of Michigan reported that MEMRI "cleverly cherry-pick the vast Arabic press, which serves 300 million people, for the most extreme and objectionable articles and editorials." Laila Lalami, writing in The Nation stated that MEMRI "consistently picks the most violent, hateful rubbish it can find, translates it and distributes it in e-mail newsletters to media and members of Congress in Washington".

Professor Norman Finkelstein, in a June 2007 interview with In Focus newspaper explained that MEMRI "uses the same sort of propaganda techniques as the Nazis... it's a reliable assumption that anything MEMRI translates from the Middle East is going to be unreliable."

In 2007, CNN correspondent Atika Shubert and Arabic translators accused MEMRI of mistranslating portions of a Palestinian children's television program. MEMRI translates one caller as saying "We will annihilate the Jews," said Shubert. "But, according to several Arabic speakers used by CNN, the caller actually says "The Jews are killing us." According to one CNN source, "Put bluntly, MEMRI is a hate group".

Working with MEMRI, as its Al Manar specialist, Avi Jorisch senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies published 'research' in 2004 entitled "Beacon of Hatred-Inside Al Manar", funded by the Israel advocacy 'think tank', Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), with the assistance of Dennis Ross. Jorisch proudly admits he had the political goal of getting the Bush administration declare Al-Manar a " Terrorist organization." One of Jorisch consistent worries is "that al-Manar broadcasts may contain coded communications - a way for Hezbollah's terrorist "generals" to command terrorist "troops" in the field, for example sleeper cells in the United States and elsewhere."

During its 2008 annual Conference, Jorisch was honored in a private reception arranged by MEMRI and AIPAC, and given a champagne toast while being introduced "as the man who put Al Manar on the Terrorism list." As recently as 11/4/09, writing in the Wall Street Journal, Jorisch accused Iran of using the UN to skirt sanctions and various other 'terrorist' acts relating to importing "foodstuffs, textiles and medicine" which could help it create a nuclear weapon. Jorisch's campaign against Al Manar is designed to show that it is anti-Semite, but he repeatedly misunderstood the context of some of his 'proof' including the phrase, "Jerusalem we are coming" , which he claimed to have heard on Al Manar.

Jorisch and MEMRI claim this language shows a threat against the Jewish state and therefore is anti-Semitic. In fact, the phrase "Jerusalem, we are coming" comes from the classic song of the Lebanese Christian singer Fairouz, whose, "Jerusalem, we are coming", extols religious unity, worshiping in Jerusalem by all religions, and Jerusalem as a city of peace. Viewers in Lebanon and the Middle East and fans of Fairouz everywhere know this song which is in no way anti-Semitic and its been played on hundreds of TV and radios stations including many in Israel.

(Comment: Lebanon's Prima Diva Fairouz, Israeli troops, and 'Beirut Jane'. According to an AP report of July 7, 1982, Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden visited Israeli troops in East Beirut and watched the shelling of West Beirut from Israeli positions next to St. Anthony's School. Israeli soldiers crowded around Miss Fonda to be photographed with her." Not mentioned in the report was that singer Fairouz was to meet with actress Jane and then hub Tom.

AP: "Mr. Swersky, the Israeli command spokesman, gave Miss Fonda and her husband a private briefing on the military situation. Mr. Hayden, who was a leader of the opposition to the Vietnam War, told the assembled troops that 'the Israeli invasion is justified because the PLO refused to recognize Israel'. Hayden said he spoke with Lebanese Christians in Sidon, Tyre and east Beirut, but did not meet any Palestinians during the trip, which began Friday. In November, he faces Republican businessman Bill Hawkins in California's heavily Jewish 44th Assembly District."

AP: "Miss Fonda stated that the visit to Israel and Lebanon was "a very good and important opportunity for me personally to try to understand the situation better. I learned a lot. It helped me to be there and to see this interesting - and maybe unique to Israel - situation where you have a tremendous Israeli defense force, and unanimity when it comes to the necessity to defend, to not pull back right now and to do everything that's possible," she said. "I think that's why they were happy that we came here."

One employee of the Beirut weekly, Monday Morning, who was present, still remembers: "Jane applauding with Israeli troops while cluster bombs ripped through apartments and hospitals, and Israeli helicopter gunships strafed those trying to escape. Some still refer to her as 'Beirut Jane' and last time I checked, her films were still banned in Lebanon."

Fairouz was reportedly enraged by the spectacle and declined to have any part of it and walked out. Elements of the Israeli lobby began a campaign against the distribution of her songs, but nearly 28 years later Fairouz has out lasted most of the Israeli soldiers on Lebanese soil, still sings beautifully, and earlier this month sold some of her song rights, including, "Jerusalem we are coming', for $ 2million to a Syrian company. In fairness to 'Beirut Jane', twenty years later, on 12/10/02, (Universal Declaration of Human Rights day), she did finally meet some Palestinians during a visit to Deheshih Palestinian Refugee Camp near Bethlehem in the West Bank)

With the 22 State member Arab League and the 57 member International Organization of the Islamic Conference condemning the House bill, and the Lebanese Foreign Ministry planning to summon US Ambassador Michele Sisson to discuss the matter, late word is that John Kerrey, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman may actually hold hearings on the Bill. If so it will be a major setback for Aipac and friends. Will Al Manar actually be invited to present testimony? Debate Aipac?

Part II: Inside Al Manar TV and its record as 'inciter against Americans'.

* Franklin Lamb is doing research in Lebanon and is a member of the Lebanese Steering Committee seeking to pass the 2010 Civil Rights Law for Palestinian Refugees in the current 'Unity' Parliament. He can be reached at fplamb@gmail.com

By Jenifer Dixon *

Daniel Pearl was an American Jewish journalist, who was assassinated by the Afghans in 2002. I looked his name up on the Internet, and after 55 references to him, I quit. What do I bring this up? I do it because at that time, I remember hearing about Daniel Pearl 24/7 on more than one "mainstream" station. There are biographies of Daniel Pearl. There are celebrations of Daniel Pearl. There are endless stories about Daniel Pearl's assassination. There is a Daniel Pearl Foundation. Etc. etc. etc.

Now, here is some information that was never presented on "mainstream" media. According to Palestine Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow by Dr. Tareq M. Suwaidan there were 9 Palestinian journalists killed in the Intifada between 29 September 2000 to 30 December 2003 by the IDF. That is 9 journalists killed by the Israelis and not a word mentioned.

I was listening to an Internet broadcast from Global Research on the question of Palestine. Both the interviewer and interviewee were Jewish. Nonetheless, they expressed a concern about the "Israeli Palestinian conflict." They had on their show an interview with a Palestinian journalist from Gaza, but his accent was so thick as to be incomprehensible. They then decried the tragedy of the cycle of violence, but assured the audience that this too would end. However, I noticed that the woman being interviewed by Mr. Lendeman, a Rachel somebody, a professor at Emory University, was the author of of several blocks on "Islamic terrorism". I also noticed that they did not go into any detail on the situation in Gaza or in Palestine. They also told the audience that the censorship of these stories from the Occupied Territories originated high up in the chain of command in a "mainstream media."

They fail to mention that at the end of July of 2006 Israeli military forces attacked Al Manar TV in Beirut. In January of 2002, the Israeli military forces blew up a Palestinian broadcasting center in Ramallah. In April 2002, Israeli military forces inflicted devastating damage to the offices of the Palestine Monitor. In August of 2009 Israeli troops raided Radio Bethlehem and ordered the staff to stop broadcasting.

I then pulled a report that detailed, some 75 assaults from Israeli security forces on journalists working in the Occupied Territories, both Palestinian and foreign, in the year 2000 alone. Nine were attacked on the 1st day of the Intifada. 9 again? Ready for some numerology?

This obviously indicates an intended desire to squelch the truth on the ground as it happened, and the heavy-handed suppression of Palestinian press, indeed of all press.

Then to beat all, I found this item entitled "Israeli media mogul Haim Saban mulls stake in Al Jazeera." This story dated October 8, 2009 in Ha'aretz states that the Israeli businessman is negotiating for 50% of this "beacon" of the voice of the peoples of the Middle East. Okay. What more needs to be said? Or as Washington Post promotional copy puts it "if you don't got it, you just don't get it"

Remember Daniel Pearl? Of course, you do.

* Jenifer Dixon is a writer and former activist who lives in the Washington, DC area. She has published in the Washington Post, Voices of Women, WomenWise, Rainbow Visions, the Palestine Chronicle and Arab-American News. The website GlobalSpin was her contribution to the Net for three years. She was also a contributing writer to the book Challenge to Genocide: Let Iraq Live. The Holy Land Unveiled is her first book.