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| IDF forces raid the Al-Hurriyya radio station in Hebron on November 21, 2015 [Image Source] |
Israel and the Palestinian Authority see Hebron as a center of influence for the militant movement Hamas in the West Bank. Hamas has been egging on violent resistance on its Web sites and via the media but has been careful not to have its leaders at the forefront. There have been more than 20 Palestinian attacks in Hebron center over the past three weeks.He might have added (though he didn't) that a steady stream of young men and women from Hebron have fanned out throughout Israel to carry out vicious terrorist attacks on, mainly, Israeli civilians. Many of these attackers were killed by alert Israeli security.
Israel's security authorities have noticed. And one of the ways they are responding is to seek out and silence Hebron's incitement to kill. There's no shortage of it in Hebron. And it's not that hard to locate.
One of the most potent outlets for the hateful, murderous anti-Jewish messaging is local radio. Hebron has several radio stations. Three of them have been forcibly shut down by IDF action in the past month. A Palestinian Arab source says there are"90 local radio stations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as 18 TV stations". Those numbers are substantially larger than the numbers of Israeli radio and TV outlets.
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| Nominally under the control of Fatah/PLO and the Palestinian Authority, the dominant presence of Hamas in Hebron is an open secret. This image shows a Hamas rally in the city during 2013 [Image Source] |
Here's a sample of how some of the darker corners of the news reporting industry and the social media have depicted the recent silencing of Hebron-based incitement to kill:
- Headline: "Israel wants to muzzle the Palestinian media" [Ennahar Online, Algeria | November 29, 2015]
- Ayman Qawasma, chairman of [a] local council, sees the closure as a part of Israel's escalating violations against Palestinian media and journalists. Qawasama told local press that “we didn’t incite, we just reported Israeli daily crimes against our people in Hebron.” He added: “they want to silence our voice.” [Alternative News, November 4, 2015]
- “The Israeli occupation forces have been providing a mountain of lies regarding the execution of Palestinians in claimed foiled attempted stabbings and Al Hurriyah radio station has been digging down for the truth. There has been nothing more devastating to the Israeli structure of lies than the revelation of the truth,” said the radio’s statement. “Our radio station has actively participated in showing yet again the ugly face of the Israeli occupation, especially in the flashpoint of the city of Hebron... We will not adhere to the Israeli military order and our broadcast will go just normally as if nothing had happened,” read the statement. ["Israeli shuts down a radio station in Hebron", Gulf News, November 3, 2015]
- ...The director of of Dream Radio station, Talab Al-Jaabri, stated that the Israeli occupation forces stormed the station, destroying equipment and damaging offices... Earlier this month, the Israeli occupation army shut down Radio Hebron and Al-Hurriya, two other Palestinian radio stations which have been accused of broadcasting anti-Israel content. ["Third Palestinian radio station closed by the IOF", Palestine News Network, November 9, 2015]
The reality is that Israel and Israelis are more than used to the "anti-Israel content" that emanates daily from a multitude of Palestinian Arab sources. The shutting of the Hebron radio stations is an attempt to address something much more harmful and life-threatening... to both sides.
Palestinian Media Watch, which monitors the media messaging from Palestinian Arab sources, published a translation into English today of several overt calls to murder and to the renewal of what it calls suicide bombings (we think human bomb attacks is a more accurate term) broadcast in recent weeks by Radio Hebron:
First a song:
"Blow up the executor's [Israel's] innards
Bring back the period of martyrdom-seeking (i.e., suicide bombing)
Rise and strap yourself with bombs."
Next, an announcer's intro to another kill-a-Jew song [audible here]:
"[Hebron] sacrificed a martyr several days ago in the popular uprising, and now it sacrifices another martyr, according to initial reports."
Song: "Blow up the executor's innards, bring back the period of martyrdom-seeking (Istish'had, i.e., suicide bombings), rise and strap yourself with bombs"
Announcer: "Two more martyrs (shahids) today are watering the soil of the Hebron district with their blood"
Song: "Write in dripping blood: death to Israel! Write in dripping blood: Death to Israel!"
[Radio Hebron Station, Oct. 29, 2015]
Another blood-curdling song:
"Load your machine gun and advance, son of proud Jerusalem
Gird yourself with flames and capture the soldiers
Load your machine gun and advance, son of proud Jerusalem
Gird yourself with flames and capture the soldiers
Open fire, have no mercy, shoot the Zionists!
Advance with your men, O keffiyeh-masked one!"
[Radio Hebron station, Nov. 19, 2015]
Referring to incitement-to-kill of this kind as "anti-Israel content" is disingenuous at minimum, and white-washes a process that has cost the lives of Hebron residents, as well as their Israeli victims. Reporting the claims of Palestinian Arab propagandists in a straight-faced manner as if the facts were documented and beyond controversy makes the media channels that engage in this kind of thing complicit.
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