The US State department plans to designate controversial al-Manar television, operated by the extremist Hezbollah group in Lebanon, as a terrorist organization. A US official is quoted by newspapers as saying that the designation could be final as early as Friday. The United States has already designated Hezbollah a foreign terrorist organization, and the State Department has been open in its criticism of al-Manar's satellite television programs and considers the station to broadcast "disgusting programming that preaches hatred and violence and ... ideas that are antithetical to the values which we believe in", a State department spokesman Adam Ereli had said at a briefing last week.
On Monday, a court in Paris ordered the French-based Eutelsat company to shut down al-Manar broadcasts following accusations that its programs are anti-Semitic and could incite hatred. Al-Manar says the French decision was political and influenced by Israel and Jewish lobbies.
