| Type | Satellite television network |
|---|---|
| Country | |
| Availability | Middle East, Webcast |
| Motto | "Your eye to home " in Arabic "aenik a`ala el-watan" |
| Owner | Hamas |
| Key people | Fathi Hamad, director |
| Launch date | 9 January 2006, Gaza Strip |
| Official website | (Arabic ) |
Al-Aqsa TV (Arabic: شبكـة الأقصـى) is the official Hamas-run television channel.[1] Its programming includes news talk, children's shows (such as Tomorrow's Pioneers, which allegedly promotes violence and antisemitism[2]), and religiously inspired entertainment.[3] It is currently directed by Palestinian Legislative Council member Fathi Ahmad Hammad.[4]
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The station began broadcasting in the Gaza Strip on January 9, 2006 [5][6] after Hamas won a sweeping victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections.[3] On January 22, 2006 the Palestinian public prosecutor Ahmed Maghni decided to close down a television station because it did not have the necessary broadcast license, but the decision was never enforced.[5][5]
On December 29, 2008, during the 2008–2009 Israel-Gaza conflict, Israeli aircraft repeatedly bombed the al-Aqsa television station headquarters in Gaza. The building was completely destroyed,[7] but the station continued to broadcast from a mobile TV unit[8][9]
According to the American Jewish organisation, the Anti-Defamation League, Al-Aqsa TV promotes terrorist activity and incites hatred of Jews and Israelis,[6] and much of its programming that glorifies violence is geared towards children.[6]
In regards to Al-Aqsa's television programme Tomorrow's Pioneers,[10] following complaints by Israeli watchdog groups that triggered international scrutiny, Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti said he had asked Al Aqsa TV to stop the broadcasts so the content could be reviewed. Despite Barghouti's call, Tomorrow's Pioneers went on the air as usual.[10] In later episodes the co-host, a Mickey Mouse-like character named Farfour was killed by an Israeli interrogator, and was replaced by a bee named Naoul, who also died and was replaced by a rabbit character named Assoud. Assoud, in turn, was martyred and replaced by Nassur the bear.
In May 2008, Bassem Naeem, the minister of health in the Hamas government in Gaza, responded to allegations of antisemitism in Al-Aqsa TV programmes.[11] In his letter to The Guardian, Naeem stated that the Al-Aqsa Channel is an independent media institution that often does not express the views of the Hamas government or the Hamas movement.[11] In response, Guardian columnist Alan Johnson wrote that Al-Aqsa TV cannot be a media institution independent of Hamas,[12] because it is headed by Fathi Ahmad Hammad, chairman of a Hamas-run company that also produces the Hamas radio station and its bi-weekly newspaper,[12] and because, since 2007, Hamas had blocked Palestinian National Authority broadcasts into Gaza, which indicated that there is no independent media in Gaza.[12]