French Council of State orders al-Manar removed from TV satellite

France's highest administrative court, the Council of State, has ordered an immediate end to satellite television broadcasts to Europe by Lebanon's Hezbollah-linked al-Manar TV channel on the grounds they were clearly anti-Semitic and a potential threat to public order. The Council of State gave the French-based company Eutelsat 48 hours to end the broadcasts beamed from its satellites after finding them in violation of a French legal ban on hate speech. The court said al-Manar could return to the airwaves if it modified its programs to satisfy French law. France's broadcasting authority, the Higher Audiovisual Council (CSA), had sought the ban after the station ignored its pledge to respect French law and accused Israel of crimes against humanity.