Hamas broadcasts on Israeli radio for two months uninterrupted

Two months ago, the Shin Bet uncovered attempts by Hamas to recruit members in the West Bank to commit terror attacks through Hamas’s Al-Aksa radio station.

Palestinian Hamas Chief Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza City February 28, 2019 (photo credit: REUTERS/IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA)
Palestinian Hamas Chief Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza City February 28, 2019
(photo credit: REUTERS/IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA)
An antenna built two months ago at a post shared by Hezbollah and the Lebanese army has been broadcasting Hamas’s Al-Aqsa radio station from Lebanon into Israel, according to Channel 12 News.
Two months ago, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) uncovered attempts by Hamas, through its Al-Aqsa radio station, to recruit members in the West Bank to commit terrorist attacks.
Around the same time, the antenna was built at the Hezbollah position and began broadcasting Al-Aqsa radio from Lebanon into Israel. The antenna is guarded by armed soldiers.
“Hezbollah built this antenna in Marwahin, a village that is very close to the Israeli border,” Lior Ackerman, a former Shin Bet official, explained. “It is aimed southward, and the signal is so strong that the broadcast can be listened to even at a distance of hundreds of kilometers from there in the Gush Dan region.”
The radio station’s frequency is 101.6, which is very close to North Radio, which plays on the 101.5 frequency, and which many Israeli Arabs listen to. The radio broadcasts can also be accessed in prisons in the North and the Center, and in recent weeks included messages to Hamas prisoners.
The disturbances inside prisons culminated with a hunger strike by the prisoners demanding the right to use phones in their cells. The hunger strike ended on Monday with an agreement between the Prisons Service and the prisoners.
Al-Aqsa radio is still broadcasting uninterruptedly from Lebanon into Israel. The Defense Ministry told Channel 12 that the matter is in the hands of the Communications Ministry.
“From what we checked, the transmitter is stationed in Lebanese territory, about three kilometers from the border,” the Communications Ministry said to Channel 12. “The ministry has submitted an official complaint to the International Telecommunication Union, and they have passed it on to the Lebanese Communications Authority.”