Netanyahu labels Hamas TV station a ‘terrorist organization’

Al-Aqsa TV is owned by senior Hamas official Fathi Hamad, who has used the media outlet to advance the terror organization’s aims.

By World Israel News Staff

On Wednesday, Israel’s Defense Ministry released a statement confirming that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had signed an order classifying the Al-Aqsa TV channel as a terrorist organization based on the nation’s anti-terror law.

Netanyahu took the step after recently revealed evidence collected by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) demonstrated that Hamas uses the TV channel for recruitment purposes and to communicate in code secret messages between operatives in Gaza and those in Judea and Samaria.

Among the codes used by on-air personalities to communicate messages were seemingly innocent movements like moving a cup of tea in a predetermined manner or switching a watch from one wrist to another.

The evidence ultimately resulted in the General Security Service and the National Counterterrorism Bureau designating Al-Aqsa TV as a terrorist entity.

In addition to recruitment and communication, the media outlet, which is owned by senior Hamas member Fathi Hamad, also operates as a propaganda arm of the terror group, inciting Palestinians to commit violence against Israelis.

Incitement often consists of calling on the Palestinian street to engage in “days of rage,” which is code for times during which Arabs are encouraged to attack Israeli civilians via stabbings, car-rammings and rock-throwing directed at vehicles.