French broadcast watchdog to pull Al-Aqsa off air

France's broadcasting watchdog has given satellite provider Eutelsat until June 26 to pull the plug on Palestinian channel Al-Aqsa Television, accused by the European Union of inciting hatred of Jews.

A spokeswoman for Eutelsat, Europe's leading satellite operator, said the CSA watchdog sent the firm a letter on June 11 giving it 15 days to take Al-Aqsa off the air.

"It is clear that this regulation must be respected and all steps will be taken to comply with this decision," spokeswoman Vanessa O'Connor said on Tuesday.

Al-Aqsa Television is seen as close to Hamas, the Islamist movement which rules Gaza and is formally committed to destroying Israel. The station denounced the French move on its website on Tuesday.

"We at the Al-Aqsa Satellite Television consider the CSA's decision to be devoid of any legal basis as it does not adhere to the satellite broadcast law, the general freedoms acts, and the rules of international journalistic conduct," it said.

France's CSA said on June 9 it would ask Eutelsat to stop broadcasting Al-Aqsa because its programs violated laws "which forbid all incitement to hatred or violence for reasons of race, religion or nationality."

It said in a statement that Al-Aqsa had breached this law "several times" despite being told to clean up its act.


The French foreign ministry said earlier this month that the European Commission had told France al-Aqsa had repeatedly broken European hate laws, adding that it expected the CSA to take the matter in hand.

"France intends to continue to defend freedom of expression around the world ... It also intends to be irreproachable when it comes to fighting against all incitement to hatred," said foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero.