FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Apple Removes Hezbollah App From iTunes Store, But Terrorist TV Is Still Available On Your iPhone!

August 2, 2012 - NEW YORK - Apple has just taken down an app that allowed users to view Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV on their iPod, iPhone, or iPad. However, by using the still available ATN Live TV app, users can currently access Al-Manar TV on their Apple devices. Al-Manar TV is the media arm of Hezbollah, a Foreign Terrorist Organization based in Lebanon.

Al-Manar TV spews anti-Israeli, anti-American, and anti-Western violent rhetoric in their television programs including shows that are targeted towards children. For instance, a talk show was aired on which a kindergarten student vows to become like Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah. The young boy mimics Nasrallah's words and hand movements, reiterating his anti-Israeli sentiments. On another recently aired Al-Manar talk show, Imad, a Palestinian child no older than four years old, is interviewed about the death of his grandfather, Hezbollah mastermind Imad Mughniyeh. Adult interviewers ask the boy, dressed in military clothing, what he aspires to be when he grows up. The adults answer for him: he will join the "resistance" like Mughniyeh. After the young Imad repeats that he will join the "resistance," he is rewarded with Mughniyeh's gun, with which he is encouraged to play.

Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the Untied States, former President Bush listed Al-Manar TV in Executive Order 13224 as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT). Regulations exist that prohibit U.S. persons from entering into certain transactions with SDGTs, including the making or receiving of any contribution of funds, goods, or services to an SDGT. In addition, Hezbollah itself is listed as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the Department of State. Providing the technological roadways for Al-Manar TV to be broadcast is arguably a violation of the regulation, and there exists a plausible argument that Apple is violating the federal statute prohibiting the provision of material and technological support and services to an FTO.

The Children's Rights Institute (CRI) applauds Apple for recognizing the dangers of hateful and violent broadcasts and for removing an app that gives users, including children, the ability to view such programming. However, CRI urges Apple to remove the ATN Live TV app from the iTunes store as well. By not removing it, Apple is minimally turning a blind eye and allowing Hezbollah to facilitate violent indoctrination of innocent Muslim children. At most, Apple is assisting this mission.

To contact the Children's Rights Institute:

Brooke Goldstein

(212) 922-1672

[email protected]