New York, NY, July 28, 2003…The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today called on the United States to add Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV station to its list of global terrorist groups which would bar dealings with the station by American advertisers.  While Hezbollah is designated by the U.S. Treasury Department as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist,” Al-Manar TV has not been similarly listed.  According to ADL, “the connection between al-Manar and Hezbollah is direct and indisputable.” 

In a letter to Treasury Secretary John Snow, Glen A. Tobias, ADL National Chairman, and Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, wrote:

Al-Manar is more than Hezbollah’s mouthpiece, it is its tool for incitement to terror against Americans.  It broadcasts images of Iraqi devastation attributed to the U.S.-led action with voiceovers calling for “death to America” and calls for the recruitment of Palestinian “martyrs” to kill Jews.  Al-Manar is also a conduit to channel money to Hezbollah -- openly and actively soliciting funds on the air and on its Web site.

The connection between Al-Manar and Hezbollah is direct and indisputable.  Hezbollah owns and operates the station, staffing it with members of Hezbollah and directing its programming and communications.

U.S. policy with regard to a non-military wing of a terrorist organization is clear; since money is fungible and since terrorist organizations rely on political, communications and social service apparatuses to plan and advance their terror agenda, we cannot make a distinction between the military and communications arm of an organization like Hezbollah.  In order to isolate and impair the activity of Hezbollah, its communication and fundraising arm must be explicitly sanctioned as a wing of its terror apparatus.