The EU should set up a watchdog to monitor Arabic-language television stations broadcasting in Europe to guard against hate messages, a Jewish-funded Brussels-based think-tank said today.
The Transatlantic Institute, funded by the American Jewish Committee, said Middle East-based satellite stations were broadcasting anti-Western programmes that dismiss women, threaten Jews and advocate violence to further radical Islam.
"The continuing transmission of hate ideologies that threaten the very essence of the European social ideal is a matter of ongoing concern, as is the lack of enforcement mechanisms to prevent such messages from being propagated on European television screens," it said in a report.
"The European Union should establish a specialised watchdog agency solely devoted to addressing these cases," it said, adding that the body should have powers to prevent such programmes from being aired in Europe.
The Arab channels singled out in the report - al-Manar television, mouthpiece of Lebanon's Hizbullah guerrilla group, and Saudi-based Iqraa - denied broadcasting hate material.
Arabic-language satellite stations have been under scrutiny in the EU since France banned al-Manar last year, saying its programmes were anti-Semitic and could threaten public order.
A few days later, the United States listed al-Manar as a terrorist organisation, ending its US satellite transmissions.
In March, EU broadcasting regulators took al-Manar off European satellites at a meeting to step up action against broadcasts that incite hatred or promote racism or xenophobia.
Al-Manar, reacting to the institute's report, said Jewish groups were acting as if they are the "custodians of the media" and denied it carries any anti-Semitic message.