link
By DALIA MAHDAWI
BEIRUT: Australia has overturned two earlier bans and announced it will now allow the broadcast of Hizbullah’s television channel Al-Manar, prompting indignation from the country’s Jewish groups.
Explaining the ruling, the Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA) said the channel did not violate Australia’s anti-terrorism requirements for television. After monitoring Al-Manar for a nine-day period in August and September last year, ACMA said in a recent report that while the channel made references to Hizbullah, “the material, prima facie, could not be ‘reasonably construed’ as either ‘soliciting funds for a terrorist organization’ or ‘assisting in the collection or provision of funds for a terrorist organization’ as the content broadcast did not specifically seek funds for Hizbullah.”
Al-Manar was banned from Australian television in 2004 and 2008. The channel is also currently prohibited in the United States, France, Spain and Germany, all of which consider Hizbullah to be a terrorist organization. Canberra’s proscription on the armed wing of Hizbullah will remain in place.
Deploring the decision to restore the cable television channel, Australia/Israel Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) Director Colin Rubenstein said the country’s anti-terrorism standards had been nullified. “ACMA’s guidelines appear to make it legal for terrorist organizations to establish television stations broadcasting to Australia, and even solicit recruits and funds, as long as they omit requisite details on joining or providing donations,” he told reporters.
“It is under these guidelines that Al-Manar has legally broadcast into Australia content that seeks to incite to violence and hatred, particularly of Jews but also of other people, and to encourage donations to Hizbullah. Raising funds for Hizbullah is illegal under Australian law.”
Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Robert Goot also alleged Al-Manar had an anti-Semitic agenda. “We were and remain focused on how their programming can be seen with regard to the Racial Discrimination Act,” he said last week, adding he will lodge an appeal to the decision at the Communications Ministry. “If the programs to be screened to Al-Manar’s subscribers have similar content to those previously shown, then there may well be cause for concern and justifiable action under the act.”
Australian Arabic Council chairman Roland Jabbour meanwhile defended the decision to broadcast Al-Manar, saying the channel had nothing to do with terrorism or anti-Semitism. The Arabic Council opposed anti-Semitism, Jabbour said, adding that Al-Manar programs were often “twisted” by rivals to appear as being racist.
No comments:
Post a Comment