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Steven Emerson,
Executive Director
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March 6, 2019
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Israel
Designates Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV as a Terrorist Oranization
by IPT News • Mar 6, 2019 at 2:41
pm
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Israel on Wednesday formally designated al-Aqsa TV, Hamas' main media outlet, as a
terrorist organization.
Israeli authorities revealed
last month that Hamas recruiters posing as journalists conveyed secret
messages to West Bank operatives via al-Aqsa TV. According to a recent report
from the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center,
Palestinian terrorists often rely on media affiliations to communicate with
operatives and avoid being targeted by Israel during conflicts.
Some of these terrorist-media personalities include an al-Aqsa TV
broadcaster and a correspondent for Hamas' al-Risalah media outlet who
frequently report on the "return marches," Hamas-orchestrated protests on the Gaza-border.
Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations threatened last month to ramp up violence on the border
to force more Israeli concessions.
In recent years, Hamas operatives have recruited dozens of Palestinians
from the West Bank and Jerusalem to conduct terrorist attacks against
Israel. Some of the detained recruits revealed that Hamas operatives use
Facebook to contact potential recruits and then relied on al-Aqsa TV
broadcasts to convey covert messages.
For example, Israeli security authorities learned during a December
interrogation that Gaza-based Hamas terrorists asked Ahmed Abu Aysha from
Nablus to recruit other Palestinians and facilitate a stabbing attack
against Israeli civilians. Aysha received signals from his terrorist
handlers via al-Aqsa broadcasts. In another case, Gaza-based terrorist
Muhammad al-'Arabid, who previously posed as a journalist, recruited a young
Palestinian from the West Bank to carry out a suicide bombing in Israel.
The recruit was arrested several days before he expected to obtain an
explosive belt.
Since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in 2006, al-Aqsa TV became the
terrorist group's primary media outlet. In November, after Hamas fired more than 460 missiles and rockets at communities
in southern Israel, Israel's military bombed the Hamas TV channel and
affiliated radio stations after being deemed legitimate targets.
Despite the bombing, Hamas funneled money to the station and continued to broadcast radical propaganda from a
different location.
Al-Aqsa – like other Palestinian institutions – offers programs
specifically geared to recruiting children to embrace terrorism and become
suicide bombers to attack innocent Israeli civilians.
At the time, Israel acknowledged that Hamas media outlets help Hamas
communicate with its fighters.
Last month, Palestinian Security forces reportedly detained a Hamas-affiliated cell in Nablus
which received directions from Gaza and planned to carry out several
terrorist bombings in Israel.
Despite Israel's campaign against Gaza-based operatives and media
outlets, Hamas continues to recruit West Bank Palestinians to destabilize
the Palestinian Authority and attack Israeli civilians.
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