Arutz Sheva
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Arutz Sheva (he:ערוץ שבע) (Channel Seven) is an internet based Israeli media network identifying with Religious Zionism. It offers online news in English, Hebrew, French and Russian in three formats: written, internet radio, and internet television. The Israeli government has never granted it a license to broadcast, prompting charges of government discrimination against the Religious Zionist public. Arutz Sheva is often referred to as the only independent news network in the Middle East and many Israelis have dubbed the station "Free Israel Radio" implying that it is the only news source in Israel not under government control or tainted by establishment propaganda. Other Israelis, by contrast, criticize Arutz Sheva and view the network as a mouthpiece for the settler movement.
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[edit] History
Founded in 1988 as a radio station, Arutz Sheva formerly broadcasted on the Israeli airwaves from the ship MV Hatzvi in the Mediterranean Sea off Israel until being shutdown by the Israeli government. The Hatzvi was much larger than most radio ships, but was broken up in 2003. Arutz Sheva may have the distinction of being the world's last ever offshore radio station.
Currently the station broadcasts over the Internet from its website which it has been running for about the last ten years. It was forced to broadcast from a ship because Israeli law only permits private radio station on the local level.
In February 1999, the Knesset passed a law legalizing the operation of Arutz Sheva and absolving it of earlier illegal broadcasting, but this was appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court which ruled the law null and void in March, 2002. Supporters of the station claim this is due to opposition to their right-wing views. In October 2003, ten employees of Arutz Sheva were convicted of operating an illegal radio station during the period 1995-1998, both from inside Israeli territorial waters and from locations in the West Bank. Station director Ya'acov Katz was also convicted on two counts of perjury for having lied about the location of the broadcasts. [1]
Arutz Sheva had a Hebrew frequency and a foreign language frequency (English, Russian, and French) and it still broadcasts in Hebrew, English, and Russian over the Internet. Written news exists in all four languages on the website as does Internet TV news in English and Hebrew. Arutz Sheva is Hebrew for "Channel Seven" and broadcasts from studios located in Beit El, Samaria and Petah Tikva.
In terms of politics, the station is considered religious zionist in its outlook, and is focused on issues directly affecting Israeli settlements.
[edit] Departments
[edit] Israel National News
Israel National News [1] is the written news website. Hillel Fendel is the senior news editor and is responsible for the site's popular daily email. News editor Ezra HaLevi oversees lengthier feature stories and photo essays, along with in-depth reporting from the hilltop outpost communities of the West Bank and flashpoints.
[edit] Israel National Radio
Israel National Radio [2] is Arutz Sheva's Anglophone Internet radio station operating in its own studio across in the same building as the Hebrew studio in Beit El. It broadcasts primarily across the Internet, and affirms its purpose as to spread the word of Israel to Jews and Israel-sympathizers living in English speaking countries as well as Anglophones living in Israel, to be the archetypal "light unto the nations".
The station is made up of news on the hour and half-hour, and live and pre-recorded programs that repeat themselves throughout the day after the first airing. These shows include current affairs commentaries, general talk shows, music shows, and Torah shows. The station's slogan is "the only independent news-talk network in the Middle East."
Prior to the banning of Arutz-7's regular radio broadcasts, the station would air for three hours a day on Arutz-7's foreign language frequency, which at other times broadcast in Russian and French.
The main broadcasters on the station are Yishai Fleisher, his wife Malkah Fleisher, Tamar Yonah, Alex Traiman, and renowned anti-missionary Rabbi Tovia Singer known as the "Chief Rabbi of Newstalk Radio." Other broadcasters do weekly shows while the just-named broadcasters air multiple days a week. The weekly shows include Jewish Campus Radio, The Beat (a music program), Walter's World, Temple Talk (hosted by Rabbi Chaim Richman, a rabbi who works for the Temple Institute and serves on the Sanhedrin), The Eshet Chayil ('Woman of Valor') Show, A Light Unto The Nations, The Jay Shapiro Show, Torah Tidbits Audio, and The Aliyah Revolution. These shows are archived for a week.
During shows, people can phone in on international toll-free numbers or chat with other listeners in a virtual studio.
[edit] Israel National TV
Israel National TV [3] offers online streaming television programs. Arutz Sheva has also added a Cable program available in New York and Chicago.
[edit] Jukebox
Arutz 7's popular jukebox [4] offers a wide selection of Israeli, Hassidic & Oriental Music, including selections for Jewish holidays and special events.
[edit] B'Sheva Newspaper
The six-year-old B'Sheva newspaper is currently Israel's fourth most widely read newspaper, according to the TGI survey, and holds 7% of the Israeli market. The paper is distributed free to over 150,000 homes weekly.
[edit] External links
- Arutz Sheva Israel National News
- Israel National Radio
- Israel National TV
- [5]
- Israel offshore radio -History of various offshore stations
[edit] References
- ^ Israel Insider; "Arutz Sheva senior personnel sentenced", Jerusalem Post, Dec 30, 2003.
