Lebanon rebuffs US over TV series

Last Updated: Friday, 31 October, 2003, 16:51 GMT

Lebanon rebuffs US over TV series

Lebanese officials have rejected a call by the United States to intervene over a mini-series being aired by the Hezbollah television channel, al-Manar.
Officials said the TV station enjoyed press freedom and questioned why Washington would want to interfere.

The US regards Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation and says the television series is anti-Semitic.

The 26-part series is being aired during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan which started this week.

The TV series, al-Shatat (the Diaspora) is a Syrian-made portrayal of the history of the Zionist movement from 1812-1948 and the creation of the state of Israel.

The US state department this week said it had complained to both Lebanon and Syria over the series, which includes scenes on the Protocols of the Elders of Zion - a document that historians believe was forged in Tsarist Russia, as a pretext for the persecution of Jews.

"We view these programmes as unacceptable," said state department spokesman Richard Boucher. (snip/...)

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So the Bush administration doesn't like a miniseries playing in Lebanon? Too bad.

The unnamed official in the BBC report said it best:

"The United States has a strange conception of freedom of expression," an unnamed official told AFP news agency.

"What would they say if we tried to interfere with the way Fox News portrays Arabs, Muslims or Palestinians?"

1) The US govt. reaction is ludicrous.

2) The mini-series in question (if accurately described by the news articles I've read) is despicable. (Elders of Zion? Sheesh!)

where did it come from? who are the originators?
most important: how can we stop them?

"Despicable blueprint"?

I'm not crazy about Sharon, or the Wall and new settlements that are going up, but it's not as if there was ever a "Wahnsee Conference" in Israel, someplace, that sealed the fate of the Palestinians...

That was actually accomplished by all of the other Arab states, after 1947, when they decided to refuse admission to Palestinians seeking to emigrate to their countries... making sure that the Palestinians would remain hostage to the Israelis, in perpetuity.

And that lying, two-faced nephew of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem (who, incidentally, wholeheartedly endorsed the policies drawn up by the moral paragons at the real Wahnse conference) has been making sure there will be no compromise, or peace, ever since.

...Or maybe that's not quite right, but in a conflict like that between the Arabs and Israelis, I just can't see anyone being justified in heaping all of the blame, all on one side, as you're apparently doing.

to other Arab countries from their own country and remain hostage to the Israelis in perpetuity? Strange, placing blame on other Arab countries for Palestinians becoming Israeli hostages ( your description) in perpetuity.

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When civilians flee or are forced from their homes during war, and in the case of this war it was a mixture of both, when hostilities cease, it's expected that they'll be allowed to return to their former homes, something which Israel has categorically refused to allow, as well as offering financial compensation for the property of those who no longer wished to return. So, I really don't see how the blame falls on surrounding Arab states for a problem that Israel created. And I've never seen anything to support any sort of claim that after the war the Palestinian refugees wanted to emigrate anywhere at all. Anyway, I know Jordan has given Jordanian citizenship to Palestinians in the past...

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