THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VIII, Issue # 155, August 18, 2006
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
AL-MANAR: BEACON OF HATE
By Asaf Romirowsky
AL-MANAR: MEDIA ORGAN OF ISLAMISM & JIHADISM -- PROPAGANDA & INCITEMENT ARM OF HEZBOLLAH
WAGING PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE AGAINST ISRAEL & SEEKING TO RALLY HEZBOLLAH'S ISLAMIST SUPPORTERS
INSIDE LEBANON & THROUGHOUT THE MUSLIM WORLD -- OFFICIAL MOUTHPIECE OF AN ISLAMIST TERRORIST
ORGANIZATION DEDICATED TO THE DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL -- A LEGITIMATE TARGET OF THE ISRAELI DEFENSE
FORCES
FULL STORY:
Hezbollah has long used the satellite broadcaster Al-Manar as a medium for winning the hearts and minds of the
terrorist group's supporters inside Lebanon and throughout the Muslim world. Al-Manar, literally "The Beacon"
in Arabic, is the official mouthpiece for Hezbollah -- the "Party of God". This beacon is best known for airing propaganda
against Israel, not least of which include reports of "heroic" and "successful" operations by Hezbollah fighters against
the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
More significantly, Al-Manar programming consists of children's shows that glorify homicide bombers.
Anti-American and anti-Semitic material -- including the infamous "blood libel" which fallaciously accuses Jews of
slaughtering Christian children to make Matza for the Passover holiday -- is the normal fare. Post-9/11, the station worked
tirelessly to promote the perception that the Israeli Mossad was the one responsible for the terror attacks against the
U.S.A.. And indeed, many Arabic speakers in London, Paris, Madrid, Brussels, and Berlin absorb Hezbollah's messages
of hate and incitement via Al-Manar.
Clearly, Al-Manar has become an integral part of the Party of God's psychological warfare toolkit. It was the first
channel to announce the kidnapping of the Israeli soldiers on the Lebanese border. Currently, the station enjoys top
ratings around the Arab world. These ratings result in no small part from Hassan Nasrallah's skills as an orator, whereby
he manages to woo crowds using superb Arabic woven together with colloquial Lebanese expressions. Nasrallah also
plays on the fears of the Israeli public to drive messages of fear, and rebroadcasts Israeli news reports about public
uncertainty in Israel regarding the war. All of this is possible due to the relatively sophisticated technology
Al-Manar uses, technology which does not fall far behind the standards of other high-tech TV stations.
Recently, in a brilliant cyber-attack, the IDF intelligence unit managed to hack an Al-Manar broadcast and plant
a caricature of Nasrallah captioned "your days are numbered." Additionally, they managed to place an image of a dead
guerrilla fighter flash on their screens, saying that this is the corpse of one of the members of Hezbollah's Special Forces
and that "Hassan Nasrallah lies." Consequently, Al-Manar's Public Relations Director, Ibrahim Farhat, reported
that "the Israelis had succeeded in creating static and other signal interruptions at least 10 times on TV broadcasts
since the start of the war." He added that, despite the circumstances, the station is in "terrific" shape. But this
admission from the station that sees itself as the "station of resistance" was a huge success for the IDF. Still, the
broadcasts continue.
The situation is now intensifying on the northern border of Israel. Al-Manar was the first to report the
preparations for a possible attack like Nasrallah promised: "... if our capital -- Beirut -- is attacked, we will attack their
capital -- Tel Aviv, " If nothing else, such propaganda proves the aggressive nature of the psychological warfare
Nasrallah is waging on Israel. After all, Nasrallah often means what he says. Moreover, with the socalled "cease-fire," it
was Al Manar that featured Nasrallah saying: "we are at the brink of a great victory; a strategic and historic one,
[and] Hezbollah fighters brought about this great triumph." And Nasrallah goes on to say that now is not the time for
Hezbollah to lay down its arms, thus illustrating that nothing has really changed, despite the supposed "cease-fire" and
that, as long as al Manar aka Nasrallah says so, you can be sure that it is indeed so.
The IDF's psychological unit follows Nasrallah's speeches very carefully and analyzes the way he expresses himself.
They believe his inaccuracies stem from both his instability and uncertainty; hence he never discloses the true number
of loses Hezbollah suffers from IDF attacks, loses which have been demonstrated to be quite large. Given the criticism
Nasrallah is receiving of late from disparate Lebanese sources, there is no doubt that he is trying to boost his public
image through such spectacles.
We have also witnessed over the past three years how the governments of France, Spain, and Holland have determined
that Al-Manar violated European law, due to its anti-Semitic, anti-Western, and racist programming. This has led
to a domino effect among other countries, such as Hong Kong, Australia, Barbados and Brazil, countries that have also
decided to remove Al-Manar from local airwaves.
This is a good start, but it is not enough. The basic problem is that Al-Manar is not a news network serving
freedom of speech, but the propaganda and incitement arm of a terrorist organization. We should therefore applaud the
IDF attacks not only on military targets, but also on Hezbollah's media organs. Islamism is not just an epidemic that
spreads in the ranks of Jihadists; it also spreads through the airwaves. America and Europe should thank Israel, if it has
managed to find a cure for the disease.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Israel -- The Israeli-Arab Conflict
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
Islamism & Jihadism -- Radical Islam & Islamic Terrorism
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
War & Peace in the Real World
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
U.S. National Security Strategy
Asaf Romirowsky is a Campus Watch associate fellow for the Middle East Forum and the Israel Affairs Fellow for the Jewish
Federation of Greater Philadelphia.
The foregoing article by Asaf Romirowsky was originally published in Tech Central Station, August 18, 2006, and can
be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum.
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
August 18, 2006
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