IDF Shuts Down Terror-Inciting Radio Station

JERUSALEM, Israel – Daily terror attacks in the city of Hebron prompted a joint operation by the Israel Defense Forces and Civil Administration overnight Monday to shut down a popular Arab radio station in Hebron.

The operation is part of the IDF's ongoing battle against Arab incitement from both Palestinian factions: Fatah, the party of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and his Ramallah-based government, and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.

The IDF confiscated the broadcasting equipment of the al Hurria radio station to curb incitement, which it said has "aggravated, encouraged and celebrated" the recent terror wave in Hebron.

Palestinians have carried out 29 attacks in Hebron in the past month, including 22 stabbings, 4 vehicular and 3 shooting attacks, the IDF stated.

The radio station repeatedly aired false reports to provoke violence.

"Al Hurria radio station's agenda encourages stabbing attacks, violent riots and reports false and malicious claims of security forces executing and kidnapping Palestinians in order to provoke violence," it stated. "The station glorifies attacks against Israelis and congratulates the families of attackers who died while executing attacks."

The station has been shut down twice in the past, once in 2002 during the second intifada (armed Palestinian uprising – 2000 through 2004) and again in 2008.

"The al Hurria radio station was formed in 2002 in the Gaza Strip by the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) and was transferred to Hebron after the Hamas took over the Gaza Strip," the statement read.

The Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 followed a week-long military coup that sent P.A. security forces fleeing.

When the Israeli government, under former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, carried out a unilateral pullout of 21 Jewish communities in Gaza and four in northern Samaria, Hamas turned the area, which had served as a buffer to southern Israeli cities and towns, into terror training camps and rocket-launching sites. That incitement continues to this day.

The two rival Palestinian factions have repeatedly touted reconciliation, but it has never happened. Both factions refuse to acknowledge Israel's right to exist or renounce terrorism, which they refer to as resistance against the Zionist occupation.

Many analysts believe should IDF security forces cease operating in Judea and Samaria, Hamas would soon topple Abbas and take control as it did in the Gaza Strip, putting Israeli population centers within its range.

Meanwhile, this radio station's incitement has been cut off for the next six months at least.