***update: Howard Mortman compares Hezbollah spending on al Manar with American spending on Arabic programming***

Here’s a closer look at Hezbollah’s bloodthirsty tee-vee station, al Manar.

Israelnn.com reports today:

The Hizbullah terrorist organization invests $15-20 million a year in its Al Manar television station, more than the Israeli government spends for public relations, according to Ra’anan Gissin, former director of the office of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Al Manar’s broadcasts are “pure propaganda, but they are professional and are carried worldwide via satellite and cable,” he said. “We need to recognize that the media is a tool and that it can serve as a weapons system. Hizbullah is 10 years ahead of Israel in the ability to use and manipulate the media for its strategic purposes.”

The Coalition Against Terrorist Media has done tremendous work fighting al Manar’s Terror TV programming and successfully pressing the US Treasury Dept to designate al Manar a terrorist organization. Mark Dubowitz reports:

In the past three years, appalled by the station’s incitement to violence and racist and anti-Semitic programming, the European Union and the governments of France, Spain, and Holland have determined that al-Manar violated European law. This led four European satellite providers to discontinue transmission of the station. Four other satellite providers, based in Hong Kong, Australia, Barbados, and Brazil, also terminated their broadcasting of al-Manar. And, after being alerted to their advertising on the terrorist station, some of the world’s best-known multinationals discontinued almost $2 million in annual corporate advertising.

Despite the Israeli air strikes, al-Manar continues broadcasting in Lebanon through its terrestrial infrastructure as well as throughout the Middle East, Europe, and North Africa, thanks to the continued transmission of the station by ARABSAT, a satellite company that is majority owned by the Saudi government, and Nilesat, majority owned by the Egyptian government. Despite numerous entreaties from U.S. government officials, these supposed U.S. allies in the global war on terrorism have refused to end the broadcasts. Arabic speakers in the restive suburbs of London, Paris, Madrid, Brussels, Berlin, and other centers of jihadist activity have full and free access to Hezbollah’s messages of hate and incitement.

I’ve posted the search warrant in the case of Javed Iqbal, the suspected al Manar TV agent arrested last week, here. Glenn Reynolds has related thoughts on the legal aspects of the case.