In a fast two-punch operation, the French equivalent to the FCC (Conseil Superieur de l’Audiovisuel) authorized Al-Manar TV and one month later, in mid-December, rescinded the agreement. American authorities, after learning of Al-Manar’s content, went one giant step further and declared it a terrorist organization in its own right, with dire consequences for all and sundry who would finance, piggyback, or traffic in any way, shape, or form with the Hezbollah channel. French newscasters announced with delight: “Two days after France banned Al-Manar TV, U. S. authorities have also decided to ban the station.” That’s all well and good, but why was Al- Manar TV authorized in the first place, why is Reporteurs sans Frontieres still campaigning against the ban, why was Al-Manar dished up in America through a semipublic French company and, if Al-Manar TV is no good, why is Mediterranee FM not so bad?

The trans-Mediterranean radio station debuted on the FM band shortly after the outbreak of the “Al Aqsa intifada.” Programming is mostly filler – music, newscasts from North African stations, fortune-tellers, marabouts, and ads for the same – studded with a few hours of political harangues.

The jewel in the station’s turban is Tribune Libre, a noon to 2 p.m. Sunday talk show intensely concentrated on outrage against the Zionist entity, the Zionisation of France, and the big bad Zionist States of America. The show has been raging unchecked for four years, despite stringent laws against hate speech and thumping government promises to fight anti-Semitism.

Over the years, complaints against the free flow of exterminationist anti-Semitism on a government-authorized station were brushed away by the CSA with lopsided even-handedness “Yes, well, the Jewish radios do it, too.” Never mind that it isn’t true, it kept the regulators and the inter-community conflict balance sheet on an even keel. Rad Med was convoked for a little scolding on one occasion but representatives of Jewish stations were also included for good measure. More recently, a listless investigation of the station’s financial underpinnings provoked hellfire and damnation from listeners. “If those Zionists dare to shut down our station, they’ll get what’s coming to them.”

Rad Med’s owner and talk show host Tawfik Mathlouti rose to prominence in 2003 with the invention of Mecca Cola, the activist’s soft drink. It earned him effervescent TV appearances and a full-page article in the prestigious Le Monde newspaper, which was naturally picked up by the New York Times and scores of press outlets from mainstream, to blog, to Islamist. Le Monde’s Patrice Claude (a former correspondent in Israel) painted the Mecca Cola man’s politics in glowing colors: Mr. Mathlouti is against the existence of the Zionist entity and isn’t afraid to say so.

Some sources claim that Mr. Mathlouti has taken refuge in Qatar after his promise to donate 20% of Mecca Cola profits to charitable associations backfired on a technicality. Others suggest there is something fishy about the charities involved. Whatever the reason and wherever he is, his inimitable voice is still present and accounted for.

In fact, the CSA took decisive action on related matters on December 17. The agency cancelled Al-Manar TV’s authorization and served notice on Mediterranee FM for repeatedly breaking laws against hate speech.

Succulent examples from Al-Manar and Mediterranee FM were quoted in the chapter and verse legal notifications:

MFM: “That just shows how much pull they [the Zionists] have in the media, they don’t even try to hide it anymore.”

Al-Manar TV: “the Israeli government…is pulling strings to keep [Al-Manar TV] from revealing…the crimes against humanity perpetrated by Israel in occupied Palestine and in the world.”

MFM: [Mr. Mathlouti] “That’s right. Israel, the Zionist entity is a racist entity based on the superiority of the Jewish race…”

Al-Manar TV is effectively OUT. How about MFM two months after legal notification? The CSA press attache was taken aback by the question. “This is a precise legal procedure.” Yes, but what comes next? The press attache assures me that someone somewhere must be monitoring, but what with the two-week holiday break and…”You know, these things take time.”

In the meantime, on January 9: Mr. Mathlouti declares: “the only solution is a binational state. The Jews have to abandon their notion of superiority.”

A woman calls in, details the abominable crimes of the Zionist entity, deplores 60 years of Palestinian Arab suffering, and pleads for deliverance. Overwhelmed by her tear-soaked testimony, Mr. Mathlouti delivers an anti-Zionist sermon, enjoining Zionists like B.H. Levy to rip away the Zionist veil that covers their eyes, see with human eyes, and recognize this criminal enterprise, and concluded with, “Shame on the Zionist lobby of France!”

A caller rails against Islamophobia. Mr. Mathlouti joins in and warns to whom it may concern: France is not Judeo-Christian, it is Abrahamic! And it’s about time they “integrate” that into their minds!

January 15: The same themes, the same vehement denunciation of Zionists, the Zionist lobby, the criminal American war, Prime Minister Allawi the traitor, the Islamophobic French press. And a new twist: MFM will commemorate the 60th anniversary of Auschwitz, ALL the victims must be honored, it is time to remember the MUSLIM victims of the Shoa.

The host is jarred from his ecumenical reverie by a caller who objects to slurs and slanders regularly expressed on this talk show. “It takes us back 60 years: Jews, money, conspiracy, criminal…” Mr. Mathlouti turns on the man like an enraged animal, roughs him up with specious arguments, loses control, and declares with undisguised rage: “Zionism is a racist ideology and we have a right to say it! And fight it! All opinions have a right to free expression!”

What does the CSA think about that?

Ms. Poller is a novelist living in Paris.