Al-Aqsa TV

History

The station began broadcasting in the Gaza Strip on 9 January 2006, after Hamas won a decisive victory in the 2006 Palestinian legislative election. On 22 January 2006, the Palestinian public prosecutor Ahmed Maghni moved to close down the al-Aqsa television station because it did not have the necessary broadcast license, but the decision was never enforced.

On 29 December 2008, during the Gaza War, Israeli aircraft repeatedly bombed the television station headquarters in Gaza City. The building was completely destroyed, but the station continued to broadcast from a mobile TV unit.

On 29 July 2014, during the 2014 Gaza War, an Israeli air strike hit a media building housing al-Aqsa TV and Al-Aqsa Radio in the centre of Gaza City early in the morning. The television station continued to broadcast, but the radio station went silent, though it later returned to the air.

In September 2016, the U.S. Department of State named Hamad a Specially Designated Terrorist in his role as the director of Al-Aqsa TV, which the U.S. said aired "programs designed to recruit children to become Hamas armed fighters and suicide bombers."

On 12 November 2018, Israel bombed the station building after launching at least five non-exploding missiles nearby as warnings to evacuate followed a surge in cross-border fighting. In 2019 after the Shin Bet assessed that al-Aqsa TV used coded messages to recruit operatives to Hamas; and the Israeli Ministry of Defense has designated al-Aqsa TV a terrorist organization.

Criticism

In May 2013, al-Aqsa TV became the focus of media scrutiny after a decision by the Newseum to honor two al-Aqsa TV members as part of its ongoing memorial to journalists who lost their lives in the line of duty in 2012. The U.S. government classifies al-Aqsa TV as being controlled by Hamas, a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist," and states that it "will not distinguish between a business financed and controlled by a terrorist group, such as Al-Aqsa Television, and the terrorist group itself."

Tomorrow's Pioneers, a children's television show produced by the network, received criticism due to its promotion of antisemitic and violent themes. Following complaints by Israeli watchdog groups that triggered international scrutiny, Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti said he had asked Al-Aqsa TV to stop broadcasts so the content could be reviewed. Despite Barghouti's call, Tomorrow's Pioneers went on air as usual.

In May 2008, Basem Naim, the minister of health in the Hamas government in Gaza, responded to allegations of antisemitism in Al-Aqsa TV programmes. In his letter to The Guardian, Naim stated that the Al-Aqsa Channel is an independent media institution that often does not express the views of the Hamas government or the Hamas movement. In response, The Guardian columnist Alan Johnson wrote that Al-Aqsa TV cannot be a media institution independent of Hamas, because it is headed by Fathi Hamad, chairman of a Hamas-run company that also produces the Hamas radio station and its bi-weekly newspaper, and because, since 2007, Hamas had blocked Palestinian National Authority broadcasts into Gaza, which indicated that there is no independent media in Gaza.

About reporting, Ibrahim Daher, a director at Al-Aqsa media operation, said they may not broadcast certain news. He said “If there was bad news during the war, or something went wrong, we just kept silent about it” and “now we mostly keep silent about the blockade, and that Hamas wasn't able to lift it during the war”.

References

References

1. (1 January 2009). "Hamas leader killed in air strike". [[BBC]].
2. (15 August 2014). "Subtle voices of dissent surface in war-torn Gaza".
3. "Hamas Launches Television Network". [[NPR]].
4. Butcher, Tim. (2007-05-11). "Anti-Israel 'Mickey Mouse' row escalates". [[The Daily Telegraph.
5. (22 January 2006). "Hamas TV station shut down".
6. (2008-12-28). "Hundreds dead, injured in Gaza as Israeli airstrikes continue". [[CNN]].
7. (27 December 2008). "Israeli Attack On Gaza Continues; 230 Dead".
8. "Israel-Gaza conflict: massive explosions as air strikes hit Hamas media building".
9. "Twitter account for AqsaTVChannel".
10. (2016-09-18). "Palestinian leader says he is proud to be branded a 'global terrorist' by U.S.".
11. "Israel bombs Hamas TV station in Gaza after warning calls, shots". Reuters.
12. Hacohen, Hagai. (February 13, 2019). "Hamas Attempts to Recruit West Bank, Jerusalem Residents - Via Satellite". [[The Jerusalem Post]].
13. Rubenstein, Sara. (March 6, 2019). "Netanyahu Declares Hamas's al-Aqsa TV a Terrorist Organization". [[The Jerusalem Post]].
14. Byers, Dylan. (2013-05-13). "Newseum to 're-evaluate' al-Aqsa issue".
15. "Treasury Designates Gaza-Based Business, Television Station for Hamas Ties".
16. (16 May 2008). "'Wipe Out the Jews' : Anti-Semitic Hate Speech in the Name of Islam". [[Der Spiegel]].
17. (13 May 2007). "Al Aqsa TV defies Hamas government".
18. Naeem, Bassem. (2008-05-15). "Hamas condemns the Holocaust". [[The Guardian]].
19. Johnson, Alan. (2008-05-15). "Hamas and antisemitism". [[The Guardian]].
20. McCoy, Terrence. (29 September 2014). "Hamas radio station in Gaza reports on the sunny side of Islamist movement's rule". [[The Washington Post]].