Ban on Iran satellite channels, prelude to Gaza war: Lawmaker

An Iranian lawmaker says removing the Islamic Republic’s channels off air by a number of satellite providers has been aimed at providing ground for Israel’s attack on Gaza Strip.

“West’s recent measure to ban the broadcast of Iranian channels from certain satellites was an attempt to provide grounds for the latest attack of the Zionist regime [of Israel] against Gaza,” Hossein Zolanvar said on Saturday.

The new wave of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has claimed at least 45 lives since November 14, 2012.

Ahmed al-Ja’abari, the popular and influential head of the Hamas military wing, the Ezzedeen Qassam Brigades, was assassinated in an Israeli attack on his car on Wednesday.

“During the 22-day war, Iranian media broadcasted images of deploying unconventional bombs [by Israel] against Palestinians,” Zolanvar said.

The Israeli regime waged a 22-day war on the densely populated Gaza Strip in 2008, which left more than 1,400 Palestinians dead including at least 300 children.

The Gaza War saw Hamas preventing Tel Aviv from materializing its stated aim of destroying the Palestinian resistance movement.

Zolanvar stated that prohibiting the broadcast of Iranian programs was aimed at preventing the channels from informing the world of Israel’s crimes and the Islamic Republic’s stances.

On November 15, the Hong Kong-based Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co. Ltd. (AsiaSat) removed all Iranian channels off air in East Asia in line with the US anti-Iran policies.

In October, two satellite providers, Eutelsat SA and Intelsat SA, stopped the broadcast of several Iranian satellite channels in a flagrant violation of the freedom of speech, citing pressure by the European Union.

The EU has, however, denied the claims by the European satellite companies.