The French authority in charge of regulating electronic media has warned the satellite broadcaster Eutelsat that carrying the Hamas TV channel ‘al-Aksa TV’ violated the law. The 'Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel' (CSA) said the law prohibited “all forms of incitement to hatred or violence on the ground of race, religion or nationality." The Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which lobbies for the removal of terrorist-run broadcasters from satellite providers, said in a statement that the formal warning to Eutelsat was sent in November but was just published this week.
"This is an important victory against terrorist media," said Mark Dubowitz, the foundation's executive director. "If Eutelsat complies with this warning and removes ‘al-Aksa’ television from broadcast, as we hope that it will, it will deal a severe blow to Hamas’ distribution efforts." Eutelsat and the Saudi-run Arabsat are the only satellite providers carrying ‘al-Aksa’.
The foundation has led the campaign that removed Hezbollah's ‘al-Manar ‘ television from all but three of 13 satellite providers worldwide.
