Lawmaker urges accountability at Al-Hurrah

A U.S. lawmaker urged greater accountability for a U.S.-funded Arabic-language Middle East television station. U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-N.J.), a member of the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, said Al-Hurrah has violated U.S. policy by airing live interviews with terrorist leaders such as Hezbollah chief Sheik Hasan Nasrallah.Nasrallah reportedly interrupted the interview to say to gunmen behind him firing in the air, “The only place where bullets should be is the chest of the enemies of Lebanon:
the Israeli enemy.”Al-Hurrah broadcasts are monitored internally by Arabic speakers who report to a member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the independent federal agency
that oversees the station’s operations and funding. During an April 19 congressional hearing, Rothman proposed a new budget, with money set aside so that broadcasts can be streamed online every day with English translation. “No sane person thinks that allowing terrorists to spout off live and unedited on media programs that are intended to promote the U.S.’s image abroad is in our country’s best interests,” he said.