16 October 2023; MEMO: France’s broadcasting watchdog, the Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel (CSA), has asked Eutelsat, Europe’s leading satellite operator to take down the Al-Aqsa Satellite Channel, which is affiliated with the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, after pressure from the French government, Eutelsat said.
The channel which was established in 2006 and broadcasts from the besieged Gaza Strip, denounced the French move on its Telegram channel on Saturday, stating that it had to stop broadcasting from Eutelsat 8 West B satellite due to French pressure.
“In light of the massacres being committed against our people in the Gaza Strip as they are unwearyingly and steadfastly fighting in Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, and in line with continued targeting and killing of journalists in Gaza, the French company responsible for Eutelsat satellite made the decision to block the channel’s broadcast,” Al-Aqsa TV said in its statement.
“The channel was taken off air in response to pressure from the French government and submission to the occupying Zionist regime,” it added.
There was no immediate response from Paris regarding the channel’s accusations.
The channel considered the suspension “a clear and shocking violation of all standards of freedom, and contradicts international laws that guarantee freedom of expression and the right to convey the voice of our oppressed people to the world.”
