Hezbollah TV app banned by Apple and Google

An app designed to stream content from Al-Manar TV, part of the media arm of Hezbollah, has been removed from both the Apple iTunes and Google Play stores, effectively barring the app from use on iPhones or Android devices.

The app became available for download on July 25, but was pulled from iTunes four days later. Two days after that, on Tuesday, Google announced that the al-Manar app had been removed from Google Play.

Hezbollah, the armed Islamic militant group that controls much of Lebanon, is a US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, and al-Manar was declared a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” agency and banned by the US in 2004. It is also banned in Spain, France and Germany.

“As the media arm of the terrorist group Hezbollah, al-Manar is a source for anti-American and anti-Israel propaganda and messages of hate and violence,” said Abraham H. Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League, which protested the availability of the app. “We commend Apple for removing the app from the iTunes store and appreciate their vigilance in ensuring that terrorist-affiliated organizations will not have access to Apple’s customers.”