Wiesenthal Centre Calls For Ban of Jihadi Egyptian TV Al Faraeen on French Eutelsat and German ARD Network

January 11, 2010

SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTRE - EUROPE
Tel. +33-147237637 - Fax: +33-147208401
e-mail: csweurope@gmail.com

Wiesenthal Centre Calls For Ban of Jihadi Egyptian TV Al Faraeen on French Eutelsat and German ARD Network

In a letter to ARD German Broadcasters Association Chairman, Peter Boudgoust, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr.Shimon Samuels, called for "the liquidation of any ties with Egyptian antisemitic TV Al-Faraeen."

Quoting MEMRI (Middle East Media Research Institute) Special Report No. 42 of January 8, 2010, Samuels noted that "Egyptian TV channel Al-Faraeen (The Phaorahs) Director, Tawfiq Okasha, on 20 December 2009, announced a cooperation agreement with the German State television network, to take effect in January 2010", adding that the German network would produce four programmes for Al-Faraeen.

The letter pointed to "a weekly show of Al-Faraeen, entitled "In Articulate Hebrew", which features the notorious "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" as an "authentic Jewish plan for world domination through the Jewish State, money and prostitution… ."

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Samuels continued, "Another example of Al-Faraeen's antisemitism was the claim, by Okasha, that 'riots following the Egypt-Algeria World Cup qualifying soccer match, on 18 November 2009 … were an Israeli-Iranian conspiracy financed by Jewish money…'."

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The Centre called on ARD "to investigate and cancel any such association made with any of your 9 regional corporations, 2 satellite channels and your Deutsche Welle international service. Any such relationship would place Germany in violation of its committments to OSCE and EU provisions against the dessemination of antisemitism and any form of hate."

Pointing to France, Samuels recalled that "the French CSA (Higher Audiovisual Council) had accepted the same arguments by the Wiesenthal Centre to end transmission of Hizbollah Al Manar TV and Hamas Al Aqsa TV via EUTELSAT," adding that "in view of this month's Franco-German Summit, we are, once again, turning to the CSA now to remove Al-Faraeen TV from the satellite, just as we trust that Al Manar, Al Aqsa and Al-Faraeen will all be barred from German airwaves."

"Jihadi television stations have no place in Germany, for their incitement of the viewers - whether domestically or internationally through your global transmissions - will inflame and radicalize a new generation of terrorists that will inevitably come home to roost," concluded Samuels.

The letter was shared with CSA President, Michel Boyon, Paris.

For further information contact Shimon Samuels at 00 33 6 09 77 01 58

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).

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