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New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah TV

by TChris

Free speech doesn't extend to Hezbollah -- or to those who help Hezbollah speak. That's the lesson learned by a New Yorker who provides satellite broadcasts to customers. The broadcasts include Christian evangelists and, until recently, the Hezbollah station Al Manar.

Javed Iqbal's home and storefront were raided by federal agents, and now he's behind bars, held on a ridiculously high bail -- $250,000 -- for allegedly providing "material support for terrorism." Does "supporting terrorism" include rebroadcasting programming that's available in much of the rest of the world?

"It appears that the statute under which Mr. Iqbal is being prosecuted includes a First Amendment exemption that prevents the government from punishing people for importing news communications," Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement. "Such an exemption is constitutionally necessary, and the fact that the government is proceeding with the prosecution in spite of it raises serious questions about how free our marketplace of idea is."

The Justice Department apparently believes that Americans aren't capable of evaluating the broadcasts and deciding for ourselves whether they merit our attention. Even if much of the programming is offensive propaganda, do we want the government telling us what we can watch? The president claims to be spreading freedom throughout the world. Do we want to be a country that controls the ideas to which its citizens can be exposed?

"It's like the government of Iran saying we're going to ban The New York Times because we think of it as a terrorist outfit," the spokesman, Farhan Memon, said before the hearing. "Or China trying to ban CNN."

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    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#1)
    by Che's Lounge on Fri Aug 25, 2006 at 08:47:57 AM EST
    This country has really lost it over this fabrication of a WOT. And thanks to Murdoch and GE, we're evolving into one big, fat, lazy, entitled, armed, racist trailer park, with a flat screen in every trailer and a pickup parked out front blocking traffic. But way too lazy to vote for anything other than a ban on gays or flag butning. Well, it won't be just flags burning in ourr future. Thank you Mr. President. Please may I have another?

    So Axis Sally and Lord Haw Haw were just misunderstood patriots then?

    I knew it was Murdoch's fault I own guns.

    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#4)
    by jondee on Fri Aug 25, 2006 at 09:11:00 AM EST
    Just remember: wooden part in, metal part out.

    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#5)
    by Sailor on Fri Aug 25, 2006 at 09:15:02 AM EST
    So Axis Sally and Lord Haw Haw were just misunderstood patriots then?
    Who cares, they played great tunes. Nice to see JR is consistent with his love for censorship.

    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#6)
    by Repack Rider on Fri Aug 25, 2006 at 09:27:33 AM EST
    So Axis Sally and Lord Haw Haw were just misunderstood patriots then?
    Moot. They were broadcasting from other countries, where our laws do not apply. The military audience these broadcasts were aimed at certainly did listen and did not seem to all turn traitor on hearing them. Your fear of disagreeable speech seems exaggerated. If your own ideas are so flimsy that a propaganda broadcast can turn you against your country, you didn't have a lot to start with anyway.

    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#7)
    by jondee on Fri Aug 25, 2006 at 09:28:46 AM EST
    And his deeply held conviction that history and reality stopped sometime in late 1944.

    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#8)
    by Bill Arnett on Fri Aug 25, 2006 at 10:24:57 AM EST
    Mornin' all. You know, I watched Howdy Doody as a child and never believed I was a string puppet. I watched the Roadrunner trick Wile E. Coyote into going over the cliff for a l-o-o-o-g fall and never once thought that I could do that and survive. I watched Perry Mason and never once thought that was the way the law really worked. I watched countless horror movies yet never butchered another human being. I watched too many war films but thought, and then proved to myself in Vietnam, that they never showed what combat was really like. BUT THANK GOD we have the bush administration and his republican guard to prevent me from seeing Hezbollah TV, for surely that would have made me become a terrorist!

    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#9)
    by Che's Lounge on Fri Aug 25, 2006 at 10:26:23 AM EST
    "I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see it's path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." The Litany of Fear From the Bene Gesserit rite "Dune" Frank Herbert JR, Take Herbert's advice. Trust me, you'll be a much happier person when you lose your fears.

    Geez. It's bad enough when the 'wingers make it painfully obvious that their anti-gay rhetoric stems from discomfort with their own gay inclinations. ("It's easy! It's easy to give into temptation and have sex with a man! But the Bible says we must deny those Satanic urges! I'm sure every one of you has thought to yourself, hey, my wife doesn't satisfy me anymore, maybe I ought to go touch a little boy! But the Bible says we must deny such pleasures of the flesh...") But now guys like JR make me wonder if they're not just one pride parade from turning gay, but one Hezbollah video from turning terrorist as well. I mean, they evidently think jihad propaganda is completely irresistable and therefore not suitable for viewing even by adults. Wow. Talk about wearing your weaknesses on your sleeve. Scary.

    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#11)
    by Edger on Fri Aug 25, 2006 at 11:56:11 AM EST
    I guess they aren't broadcasting the right brand of bushco sanctioned hate...

    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#12)
    by lewke on Fri Aug 25, 2006 at 12:14:58 PM EST
    From the IEEPA:
    The authority granted to the President by this section does not include the authority to regulate or prohibit, directly or indirectly (1) any postal, telgraphic, telephonic, or other personal communication, which does not involve a transfer of anything of value;
    So it hinges on whether or not what he was doing is considered "personal communication." Since it was a satellite broadcast instead of radio/television one it seems like he could argue that successfully since he isn't using "public" airwaves. Regardless, this sort of communication should also be exempted.

    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#13)
    by kdog on Fri Aug 25, 2006 at 12:28:50 PM EST
    Scary that the govt. decides which airwaves we can watch. How can we denounce Hizbollah's ideas when we can't hear their ideas? If Hizbollah follows suit and bans CNN and Fox, we will never learn a thing about each other...and continue to kill each other. Perpetual war...here we come. That's what the powers want.

    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#14)
    by lewke on Fri Aug 25, 2006 at 12:30:18 PM EST
    Bleh, misused the blockquote. On further reflection, if he were selling the feed the government could argue it makes the feed a "transfer of anything of value" Though that still doesn't change the underlying issue that the feed should be exempted.

    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#15)
    by Joe Bob on Fri Aug 25, 2006 at 01:02:34 PM EST
    So why don't we lock up everybody at NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox when they broadcast excerpts from Osama's latest missive?

    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#16)
    by John Mann on Fri Aug 25, 2006 at 04:43:02 PM EST
    PPJ? You reading this? Remember a couple weeks ago when you were telling me all about how what I watch on TV is censored by the Canadian government? Remember, Jim, how you were telling me all about freedom of speech in the U.S.? Jim? You there?

    Once again...they hate our freedoms. So we must do away with our freedoms to placate them. You see, when it comes to the First Amendment, Bush is Neville Chamberlain.

    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#18)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Aug 26, 2006 at 06:48:30 AM EST
    et al - Free speech is not unlimited. You know that, I know that, so let's wipe away the crocodile tears and see what this beacon of kindness and tolerance has been broadcastung to members of the Moslem community, and any one else willing to pay for it:
    They got their information from Mark Dubowitz, who heads a Washington-based policy group that has monitored Al Manar -- through a project called the Coalition Against Terrorist Media -- and campaigned for its removal from worldwide broadcasting. Mr. Dubowitz said in a telephone interview that Al Manar's programming includes "very explicit calls for violence," including ones that promote suicide bombing against American troops in Iraq and "death to America." He said that some broadcasts, which he characterized as racist and anti-Semitic, glorify suicide bombings and suicide bombers themselves as martyrs and that children's programming encourages youngsters to "join the jihad and give their lives for the cause." The programming, he said, is sophisticated and diverse, ranging from soap operas and dramas, produced in Syria and Iran, to what he called "MTV-like" music videos. A 28-part series that was broadcast over Ramadan and based on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion included a dramatization that depicted what he said looked like an Orthodox Jew slitting the throat of a Christian child and draining the child's blood to make food for Passover.
    This is the same nonsense that has been spewing out of various places in Europe, and we are seeing the results in train bombs and attempted airliner bombers. In the US we have just seen a young Moslem male kill while screaming hatred. This isn't free speech, it is a call to attack us. It is propaganda of the rankest kind and has no place in a civilized society. So just as you can't scream fire in a theater, you can't call for attacks on the US over our communiation systems. John Mann. When FNC braodcasts the above, let me know. Until then, keep practicing your judophobia.

    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#19)
    by Sailor on Sat Aug 26, 2006 at 07:06:44 AM EST
    and it's one man's biased word.
    When FNC braodcasts the above
    they broadcast coulter calling for the deaths of Americans and o'lielly saying the homeland shouldn't be protected if you don't agree with bush, not to mention the other death threasts he's made. BTW, 'judophobia' is not a word, especially if by that you mean israel. israel has christian and muslems and even, gasp, atheists in its population.

    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#20)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Aug 26, 2006 at 09:46:03 AM EST
    Sailor - Are you claiming that our avowed enemies and an identified terrorist organization should have unfettered rights to spew hate?

    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#21)
    by Sailor on Sat Aug 26, 2006 at 10:40:05 AM EST
    why not, faux news does.

    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#22)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Aug 26, 2006 at 11:50:50 AM EST
    Until then, keep practicing your judophobia. Is that a kind of musical instrument?

    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#23)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Aug 26, 2006 at 01:15:37 PM EST
    Che - How you doing? The answer is that most people consider it a despecable attitude. You, of course, probably do not think hating Israel all that made. Sailor - You said it yourself. Now we know. Jim:
    Sailor - Are you claiming that our avowed enemies and an identified terrorist organization should have unfettered rights to spew hate?
    Sailor:
    why not, faux news does.


    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#24)
    by John Mann on Sat Aug 26, 2006 at 01:41:29 PM EST
    John Mann. When FNC braodcasts the above, let me know. Until then, keep practicing your judophobia.
    When FNC broadcasts what above? What do you mean by judophobia? You may or may not know that a phobia is an irrational fear of something. I've explained this to you previously, but you apparently weren't paying attention. By attaching the prefix "judo" to it, I can only assume that you mean Judaism or Jews in general and that you are suggesting that I am irrationally afraid of Jews or their religion (I'm not). So what exactly are you talking about, Jim? I can't find the word in any accepted dictionary.

    PPJ...if you wanna see some impressively sub-human calls to violence read any of the neocon rantings (Ledeen et al). Or better yet read your own spewth all over these threads.

    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#27)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Aug 26, 2006 at 03:14:41 PM EST
    Ernesto - If you want me to read something, provide a link. It's not my job to do your work. John Mann - "Judophobia" an unreasonable hatred and fear of Israel. It is a new word, John. Now since us liberals believe in progress, will you Lefties join us? There. See how it easy it is?

    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#28)
    by John Mann on Sat Aug 26, 2006 at 03:59:27 PM EST
    John Mann - "Judophobia" an unreasonable hatred and fear of Israel.
    I get it now, Jim. Would "Moslemophobia" be a word I could apply to someone who has an unreasonable fear and hatred of "Moslems"? Or would it be better for me to use "Islamophobia" to apply to people like you?

    PPJ...thanks for asking me to walk through the sewer of right wing hate speech. I only do this in honor of the First Amendment (and even so I just couldn't bear to search any Mann Coulter piles of putrid bile so thanks to DA for linking that already): Michael "Exporting Democracy by Killing Everyone" Ledeen: "Creative destruction is our middle name. We do it automatically ... it is time once again to export the democratic revolution." Creative destruction! There's a catch phrase for you PPJ...even stupider sounding than "judophobe". Peggy "Tough Guy" Noonan: "It would be good not only for elemental justice but for Iraq and its future if a large force of coalition troops led by U.S. Marines would go into Fallujah, find the young men, arrest them or kill them, and, to make sure the point isn't lost on them, blow up the bridge." But the beauty of this is that s(he) follows up this little mastabatory bit of bloodlust with this: "Whatever the long-term impact of the charred bodies the short term response must be a message to Fallujah and to all the young men of Iraq: the violent and unlawful will be broken. Savagery is yesterday; it left with Saddam." So stop your savagery or we'll kill ya! Makes sense to those running the war...and to you. And speaking of you...need you be reminded that you said (among so many other things) that those who dared take issue with the Haditha massacre were "involved in spasms of self hatred"? Now excuse me while my dry heaves subside.

    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#30)
    by Sailor on Sat Aug 26, 2006 at 05:30:36 PM EST
    "Judophobia" an unreasonable hatred and fear of Israel.
    a made up racist word that denies the legitamacy of all the other faiths that live in israel. Trust ppj to spew hate while he projects his own faults onto others. And since faux news regulars reularly call for the deaths of Americans they are a propaganda outfit that should be banned ... if you swallow the logic of ppj. Torured, twisted and pretzel like.

    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#31)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Aug 26, 2006 at 07:46:00 PM EST
    Dark Avenger - The following is not a "point of view." It is a despeciable piece of propaganda that has been used by radical Moslems for years to create hatred and incite riots in which Jews are killed.
    A 28-part series that was broadcast over Ramadan and based on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion included a dramatization that depicted what he said looked like an Orthodox Jew slitting the throat of a Christian child and draining the child's blood to make food for Passover.
    You should concentrate on some logic rather than just opposing everything I write. That way you wouldn't appear so dumb. Sailor - Telling us that Israel is not a Jewish state is like saying Iran is not Moslem. Both have minority populations. Of course you probably weren't aware of that. Now you are. Ernesto - Glad you like it. Does it remind you of this? No? I didn't think it would. See, what you call hate talk is about defending the country against those who would kill us. The following, from Huffington Post is about letting the terrorists kill enough Americans so that the Left can assume power. You know, it pretty well spells how some one the Left think. And frankly, it is disgusting.
    If an attack occurred just before the elections, I have to think that at least a few of the voters who persist in this "Bush has kept us safe" thinking would realize the fallacy they have been under. If 5% of the "he's kept us safe" revise their thinking enough to vote Democrat, well, then, the Dems could recapture the House and the Senate and be in a position to... I am not proud of myself for even considering the notion that another terror attack that costs even one American life could ever be considered anything else but evil and hurtful. And I know that when I weigh the possibility that such an attack- that might, say, kill 100- would prevent hundreds of thousands of Americans from dying who otherwise would- I am exhibiting a calculating cold heart diametrically opposed to everything I stand for as a human being. A human being, who, just so you know, is opposed to most wars and to capital punishment. But in light of the very real potential of the next two American elections to solidify our growing American persona as a warlike, polluter-friendly nation with repressive domestic tendencies and inadequate health care for so many tens of millions, let me ask you this. Even if only from the standpoint of a purely intellectual exercise in alternative future history: If you knew us getting hit again would launch a chain of transformative, cascading events that would enable a better nation where millions who would have died will live longer, would such a calculus have any moral validity?
    Now that, is cold. Especially if you consider that the writer wouldn't raise a finger to protect the country. Link You write:
    So stop your savagery or we'll kill ya! Makes sense to those running the war...and to you.
    Uh, that's what the police/army whatever have been doing to savages for centuries. It is unfortunate, but it is required from time to time. You need to remove your head from your nether regions and catch a glimpse of the real world. BTW - If you are going to quote me, please be so kind as to include the complete quote...
    Posted by Jo May 30, 2006 06:30 AM I only mention this because Talkleft participants seem to have a penchant for disregarding statements which contain inconsistancies, and this appears to be one. Posted by JimakaPPJ May 30, 2006 06:58 AM Jo - No criticism is allowed. Especially if you ask questions regarding the party line. So just remember that presently many on the thread is involved in spasms of self hatred.
    And you, Ernesto, certainly are incapable of making me change my mind.

    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#32)
    by Sailor on Sat Aug 26, 2006 at 08:31:11 PM EST
    Telling us that Israel is not a Jewish state is like saying Iran is not Moslem.
    Truly pitiful that ppj can't tell the difference between a religious state controlled by the church and a freely elected governemnt that contains christians and muslims.
    Jo - No criticism is allowed.
    You're still here, still spewing hate, so you are proved wrong yet again. And re-quoting the same biased source is still not offering facts supporting your opinion that censorship is a good thing.

    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#33)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Aug 26, 2006 at 09:21:08 PM EST
    Sailor - I think you understand the concept of hate speech. I think you are also aware of the concept that not all speech is protected. I think you would agree that there are certain comments that should not be allowed. The Protcols of the Elders of Zion falls well within that frame. If you can not agree with that I truly pity you.

    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#35)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sun Aug 27, 2006 at 08:03:34 AM EST
    Dark Avenger - And I continue to get a load of grins watching you try to twist and turn. Hate speech is either bad, or it is not. I say that certain words, phrases and commens are dangerous and hateful and should not be tolerated in public discourse. Something that the FCC has long agreed with. And something that our courts have also agreed with. Some are even so nasty and cause such hurt and inject so much poison into the public body that they should be, if not illegal, at least condemned. What you are denying, although you well understand my point, is that these are NOT news programs, but words and stories meant to infect the listener with hatred of Jews and the west. The country has an obligation to prevent them from being broadcast. AS for Coulter, please get back to me the first time you can show me someone flying an aircraft into a builiding while screaming, "Coulter is Great!" Sailor - Tell us again that Israel is not a democracy, and that Iran is. Uh-Huh. Sure.

    And you, Ernesto, certainly are incapable of making me change my mind.
    So why are you worried about Hezbollah propaganda changing your mind? The subject here is hate speech...theirs and ours (you can define that however you want). You seem to have an attitude that there is good hate speech and bad hate speech, just like you believe there are good terrorists and bad terrorists. On the other hand, I believe that if we are going to allow hate speech, then we should allow all hate speech. And if we are going to condemn terrorism, then we should condemn all forms of it.

    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#38)
    by Sailor on Sun Aug 27, 2006 at 02:58:01 PM EST
    Sailor - Tell us again that Israel is not a democracy, and that Iran is.
    ppj, you are a either f%^king idiot, or you didn't bother to follow my links. the " a religious state controlled by the church" clearly linked to iran. "a freely elected governemnt that contains christians and muslims." clearly meant israel. And it was in response to you claiming israel was a religious gov't
    Telling us that Israel is not a Jewish state is like saying Iran is not Moslem.
    Now you are on record for denying American's their constitutional rights, being against free speech and saying iran and israel are both religious states. And that's just today. It's a good thing that the majority of Americans disagree with you.

    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#39)
    by jondee on Sun Aug 27, 2006 at 05:10:45 PM EST
    Israel's a democracy if you're lucky enough to have the right parents. For those aren't, there's the very real possibility that one might become embittered enough to start giving creedance to despicable and disgusting documents (originally written in Christian Czarist Russia; not by radical, tare-ist, Muslims).

    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#40)
    by John Mann on Mon Aug 28, 2006 at 06:47:12 AM EST
    Jim pontificated:
    Hate speech is either bad, or it is not. I say that certain words, phrases and commens are dangerous and hateful and should not be tolerated in public discourse.
    You mean like the remarks you continually make about "Moslems"?

    Re: New Yorker Arrested For Broadcasting Hezbollah (none / 0) (#41)
    by jondee on Mon Aug 28, 2006 at 07:54:12 AM EST
    He was called on it so many times that now he's gone back to "radical Muslims" and "Muslim extremists." Of course, he'll deny ever doing what you describe, call you a liar, and then run away till the thread disappears.