WWLT AM 700 BROADCASTING ISLAMIC PROPAGANDA

WWTL Radio, AM 700, in the DC/Baltimore area acts as the broadcasting arm of America's Islamic Fundamentalist propaganda machine.

Recently, as I have been driving to and from work in the DC metro area, this station has featured (along with the typical "you infidels are going to burn in hell if you don't follow Muhammed" prayers and chants) an endless stream of terrorist apologists and marxist/communist sympathisers. The standard line is, to paraphrase: "We deplore the acts, but we must give voice to the motivations".

Written onto this template is a disgusting army of socialists and left-wing sycophants who blame America and the "inequitable distribution of resources" for for the attack. I have even heard callers accuse Americans of stealing their natural resources (as if we don't pay for the oil we use). It is absolutly sickening. These types of calls are not being challenged, and the hosts are presenting an endless parade traitors, pacifists, and idiots to nod their heads in collective agreement with this nonsense. Callers with dissenting views (almost nonexistent) are harrased, verbally abused, or cut off

We need a response to this station and the syndicated network it is broadcasting. The call-in and talking-head shows are eminating from something calling itself the AMIN network. I've heard a web address given once. It was www.???.ws. I was driving and didn't catch the middle part of the URL.

WE NEED TO RESPOND TO THIS GARBAGE. We here know the root of poverty in the 3rd world is the never-ending parade of fundamentalist dictators and repressive regimes that stomp on the freedoms and rights of their subjects. It is, in fact, rule by the very people and ideas who populate this radio station.

I'm hoping some Freeper here can tune in and get some more information on this radio station and its syndicated network affiliates.

My dear brother and sister FReepers,

At this, of all times in my lifetime, I would like nothing more than to be able to read these threads and reply to them. I have much I would like to say.

BUT, I cannot!

Why?

Because I am trying hard to raise the finances needed to keep FreeRepublic up and running so that we can continue to share valuable information and respond to it.

I beg you, if you have not yet donated to FreeRepublic this quarter, do so now!

If you have already donated, THANK YOU VERY MUCH AND GOD BLESS YOU, please ping your friends, and FReep on...!

I realize you are giving to lots of Relief efforts and I encourage you to do so. But we need to help FR too. Where would we be right now without it?

If you have no money, please come and bump the Fundraiser Thread.

I would really like to reach our goal quickly so that I and the rest of the dedicated FReepers who are working the Fundraiser Threads can participate in what is undeniably the most important time in FreeRepublic's history.

WHERE WOULD YOU GET YOUR NEWS FROM IF FREEREPUBLIC WASN'T HERE?<--click here

Support FreeRepublic! Support the U.S.A. <--click here

http://www.hilm.org/law.html

25. That on or about December 28, 2000 Defendant Sima Birach, acting on his own behalf and as owner, operator, and or agent of Defendants, stormed into the studio of WWTL 700 radio station while Mr. Beaini was broadcasting a news show, and began shouting that the United States Department of State was listening to the news shows and that “they contacted me to take action against you.”

29. That on January 9th, 2001 Defendant Sima Birach, on his behalf and the behalf of Defendants, did an interview with The Jerusalem Post in which he falsely accused Mr. Beaini of broadcasting “anti-Jewish rhetoric” and conducting interviews with members of the Palestinian organization, HAMAS. Sima Birach also falsely accused Mr. Beaini of “illegally sub-contracting airtime to other purchasers in violation of their contract.”

========================

DC radio station halts Hamas interviews
Jerusalem Post; Jerusalem; Jan 9, 2001; JANINE ZACHARIA;

Words in Document: 523

Available Formats:
Buy Full Text

Abstract:
On December 29, Sima Birach, manager of WWTL radio, informed Hikmat Beaini that he could no longer broadcast his English and Arabic-language shows on the station. Birach's decision came after what he described as weeks of "virulent" commentary that drove scores of listeners to complain.

Birach said Beaini was also illegally sub-contracting airtime to other purchasers in violation of their contract. Birach, ...

The Jerusalem Post Newspaper: Online News From Israel

DC radio station halts Hamas interviews

By Janine Zacharia

January, 09 2001

WASHINGTON (January 9) - A Washington radio station popular with Arab listeners has cancelled the slots it leased to a Lebanese-born amateur radio host because he used them for anti-Jewish rhetoric and to broadcast interviews with Hamas representatives, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

On December 29, Sima Birach, manager of WWTL radio, informed Hikmat Beaini that he could no longer broadcast his English and Arabic-language shows on the station. Birach's decision came after what he described as weeks of "virulent" commentary that drove scores of listeners to complain.

Among the repeated themes in the English-language programs were that Zionists control all US institutions and American foreign policy. The Arabic-language show - which was supposed to be a business-oriented bazaar - was "even more virulent," says Birach, and included frequent interviews with Hamas activists.

Birach said that Beaini's broadcasts grew increasingly inflammatory with the onset of the latest round of Israeli-Palestinian clashes even though the two had agreed that the shows would "encourage peace in the Middle East, be entertaining, cultural and encourage healthy debates."

Birach said Beaini was also illegally sub-contracting airtime to other purchasers in violation of their contract. Birach, who is of Yugoslav origin, does not speak Arabic himself but employees at the station monitored the Arabic broadcasts regularly.

"His shows were cancelled and his contract nullified because he was in direct violation of station policy and standard programming rules set by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission)," Birach said.

Now Beaini is soliciting support from Moslem and Arab organizations for what he describes as a violation of his First Amendment right to freedom of expression.

But Jack Goodman, a legal adviser to the National Association of Broadcasters in Washington, said a licensee - in this case Birach - has the right to determine what airs on a station.

"If the question is do they have a right to determine what goes over its airwaves, absolutely," Goodman said. "In fact it is the licensee's responsibility to determine what is broadcast. And if they believe it's false, unduly inflammatory or just don't like it they have a right to take it off."

A spokesman for the FCC concurred.

Beaini started buying airtime four months ago from Birach at a discounted price of $50 per hour. Each day, four hours of broadcasting in English on what was known as "Freeway Radio" were followed by three hours of programming in Arabic on "al-Hilm al-Arabi," translated as "the Arab national dream."

Beaini had no comment when asked if Hamas activists were brought on the show and if he referred regularly to a Zionist conspiracy. An attorney who immigrated from Lebanon 14 years ago, he is president of a communications company called Arab Media House.

After Beaini received notice that his programs were being cancelled he threatened to take legal action and accused Birach of discriminating against Arabs and Moslems and violating his civil rights.

Beaini refused to say whether he still intends to file a lawsuit. One source familiar with the dispute said Beaini had asked Albert Mukaiber, a prominent Lebanese-American attorney, to represent him.

Mukaiber did not return repeated phone calls from The Jerusalem Post.

On December 30, a day after the cancellation, Beaini arrived at the radio station with his brother Jameel and Hazim Bitar, who is well known as a documentary film maker whose movies focus on injustices against Arab Americans.

"They were pushing and coming into the lobby," recalls Birach. "Hikmat was parading around the lobby screaming 'civil rights violation' and saying that I discriminate against Moslems and Arabs." Bitar, who was carrying a video camera, filmed the incident while Beaini shouted, "You can't cancel me. You can't cancel my program." After a skirmish in the lobby, Birach called the police and Beaini and the other two men were briefly detained at the scene before being ordered to leave the premises.

This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2001/01/09/News/News.19054.html

Back to the article

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), the nation’s largest Arab-American membership organization, is troubled by the delegitimization of Arab-American political discourse associated with the cancellation of a radio program in Washington, DC. In late December, the owners of WWTL radio, based in Walkersville, Maryland, canceled the “Freeway Radio” (broadcast in English) and “Al-Hilm Al-Arabi” (in Arabic) programing of Mr. Hikmat Beaini. The programming consisted mainly of political discussions and call-in programs and was also broadcast in Detroit and Chicago. In response to a letter of inquiry from ADC and other concerned organizations about the circumstances of the cancellation of the programing, attorneys for the station owners cited “the broadcasting of inflammatory programming which attacks other racial or ethnic groups” as one of the reasons for ending the broadcasts.

ADC is concerned that this seems to be yet another instance in which the political discourse of the Arab-American community is stigmatized and held to a different standard than that applied to conversations in other communities. In any radio call-in format, there is bound to be a wide range of dialogue, including comments that are both intelligent and foolish, reasoned and emotional, tolerant and intolerant. This range of opinion and the space for all of it to be voiced and reasoned through by a society and community is normally considered the very essence of responsible broadcasting and public conversation. All too often, however, the Arab-American political conversation is held to a special standard, and is easily labeled “inflammatory,” “controversial” and “intolerant.” In the prevailing environment in AM talk radio, dominated by hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and G. Gordon Liddy, the normal standards for political discourse must be seen as very broad indeed. The letter from WWTL’s attorneys to ADC and the other groups claimed that Mr. Beaini was “interviewing representatives of groups generally described as terrorists and that the program content contained material which, in my client’s judgement, went beyond the area of legitimate controversy and intruded into the realm of irresponsible attacks on other groups.” Similar claims were made to the Jerusalem Post newspaper.

It would strongly appear that, for whatever reason, the owners of WWTL are appealing to a common perception that forums which provide a full range of views from the Arab-American community are illegitimate. It also seems that no distinction is being made between what callers and those interviewed may have said, and the views of the hosts of the programming, a crucial distinction in the world of talk radio. ADC is deeply concerned by the persistent labeling of Arabs and Arab Americans as “terrorists” or terrorist sympathizers, a pattern which is reflected in WWTL’s statements. It is a form of incitement that is not only irresponsible but dangerous. Moreover, a kind of guilt by association that would make journalism all but impossible is being implied.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.