- Dr. Hesham Tillawi is a Palestinian American
who hosts a program called Current Issues TV. It is seen each
Thursday night on Cox Cable in Lafayette, Lousiana. The show
has become Internet success with thousands upon thousands of listeners
tuning in each week.
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- Dr. Tillawi provides a place in which
Palestinian, and other Middle Eastern concerns, can be discussed.
His guests have spanned the spectrum from Congressmen Paul Findley, author
of "They Dare To Speak Out" to Mordechai Vanunu, an Israeli nuclear
technician (and whistle blower) who spent many years in prison for divulging
the extent of Israel's nuclear weapons' program to Alan Watt, whose "cutting
through the matrix" is thought provoking on many levels. Dr.
Tillawi has had a vast assortment of people pass through his Internet
doors. Israel Shamir, talked freely about the racist politics
of his native country, Israel. Dr. Norman Finkelstein, talked
about his controversial book "The Holocaust Industry".
The parade of guests has been lengthy and learned.
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- And yet, do not, for one minute, get
the impression that Dr. Tillawi is anti-Jewish. His problem rests
with Israel and its treatment of the Arabs and Muslims. This was
demonstrated quite clearly recently, when he had a male and female on
his show who made racist comments about ALL Jewish people.
Dr. Tillawi was quick to defend Jewish people and show the hypocrisy of
those guests.
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- Towards the close of 2005, Bridges TV,
a Muslim owned channel, began airing Current Issues. It became a
huge success and, by the end of May of 2006, Bridges was showing Current
Issues five times a week.
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- "We were getting rave reviews",
stated Dr. Tillawi. "Of course, for a program to be shown five
times a week, it would have to be a resounding success".
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- Then, in May of 2006, the proverbial
"other shoe" dropped. Dr. Tillawi was informed by
Aasiya Zubair, the Director of Programming at Bridges TV, that some of
the "Jewish cable operators" located in the areas of the country
receiving Bridges, had complained to them about the program.
She also told him that one of their editors had been fired for not editing
some of Current Issues programs by removing certain material that they
found "offensive to Jews." In addition, Dr. Tillawi
was informed that viewers had been complaining about the contents of the
show. He was incredulous.
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- "How could the majority of "Muslim
customers" have changed their minds overnight?"
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- He had been getting nothing but
positive feedback from the viewing audience. The show was presenting
Arab and Muslim issues and was wildly popular.
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- When Dr. Tillawi questioned Bridges and
asked for some proof of their allegations, they could produce nothing.
He shook his head in disbelief.
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- "It's a shame that a channel claiming
to be friendly to Muslims would remove the only show being broadcast nationwide
that tells the truth about Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Islam, etc"
Dr. Tillawi said sadly. "Bridges can only be built on
truth and sometimes that truth is ugly".
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- A matter of concern to all Dr. Tillawi's
viewers is the disturbing "coincidence" that occurred shortly
before Bridges burned theirs with Dr. Tillawi. The Anti Defamation
League added Dr. Hesham Tillawi's name to their list of most "notorious
anti-Zionist, anti-Semites. This begs the question "Did
Bridges get any pressure from the ADL to drop Current Issues TV?"
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- Dr. Tillawi has no plans of going "gently
into that good night".
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- He was resolute. "Now the gloves
are coming off and we are not going to worry about whose toes get stepped
on when it comes to the truth".
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- Judy Andreas
- www.judyandreas.com
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- Pro-Palestinian US TV Program Axed Under
Pressure
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- Press Release
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- Media Contacts
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- Hesham Tillawi Tillawi@currentissues.tv
- Mark Glenn mglenn@currentissues.tv
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- First nationwide Pro-Palestinian Television
Program in the US is the latest victim of Jewish attack on Free Press.
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- It is just another example of the fact
that in America freedom of speech has its limits, and particularly when
the topic of discussion happens to be Israel. Fall on the 'wrong side'
of the truth, and a person can lose his job or his platform for speaking
his mind.
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- It seemed as if nothing could stop it.
It went from having 2 viewers a week to hundreds and then thousands and
then hundreds of thousands and then, once it gained syndication on
an American cable and a Satellite channel called Bridges TV, millions.
It was being aired 5 times a week for 5 months on Bridges TV with
nothing but praise from both executives and viewers alike, and then, out
of the blue came a call from Bridges informing the show's producer
that they were coming under pressure from "Jewish Cable Operators".
Bridges' Programs Director and the show's producer set up a system
of rating for each program to inform Bridges if the content of the
show has 'Jewish' material or not. Apparently though, this was not
enough, as two weeks later the show was removed from the Bridges TV line-up.
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- The program in question is called "Current
Issues with Hesham Tillawi" and runs Live every Thursday evening from 8-10
PM Central Time in the US from Lafayette Louisiana. Besides running
on cable, the program is also streamed live and archived on the Internet
where at present it is watched in more than 63 countries around the
world at www.currentissues.tv. Tillawi, a Palestinian-American citizen
is the host of the show and has been making some impressive waves in the
last year with some of the guests he has interviewed, including members
of the US Congress, high ranking officials within the US military establishment,
international figures such as ex-Israeli nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu
and many others.
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- More importantly though {and most likely
the reason why the heat came down from on high} is the fact that it is
a program where there is no such thing as political correctness when it
comes to discussing the goings on in the Middle East, and in particular
how these items relate to the state of Israel.
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- Late in 2005 Bridges showed interest in
broadcasting Current Issues on their network that spans the US. Bridges
TV is a Muslim--owned channel whose theme is dedicated to the issue of
Islam and to the current goings on in the Middle East. In December 2005
Bridges agreed to start airing Current Issues and by the end of May the
following year, Current Issues was playing 5 times a week and getting rave
reviews by Bridges viewers. Then, in May 2006 Aasiya Zubair, Director of
Programming at Bridges TV informed Dr. Hesham Tillawi that some of
the "Jewish cable operators" located in areas of the country
where Bridges TV is broadcast had complained to them about the Current
Issues program. She also informed him that Bridges TV had fired one of
their editors for not editing some of Current Issues programs by taking
out materials that in their opinion was "offensive to Jews".
Two weeks later Bridges TV made the decision to stop airing the show and
in a letter to Dr. Hesham Tillawi Mrs. Zubair wrote the following notice:
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- "Dear Hesham, I would like to inform
you that we will no longer be airing Current issues anymore. I have been
getting a lot of complaints from our viewers," and in a follow-up
letter Mrs. Zubair wrote:
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- "Dear Hesham, It is not about the
cable operator, it is about the customers too who by majority are Muslim
and who have complained about the show. For now I would suggest it is best
to part ways."
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- Tillawi response was "How could
the majority of "Muslim customers" change their mind overnight
regarding a show that is presenting current events from an Arab and
a Muslim point of view?"
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- Tillawi asked Bridges TV to produce
those so-called complaints from viewers. As he tells, it, they were unable
to produce even one negative comment. In prior conversations with Ms Zubair
she stated that they were getting many emails in support of the show.
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- "This is censorship, plain and simple"
claims Tillawi. "Its a shame that a channel claiming to be friendly
to Muslims would remove the only show being broadcast nationwide that tells
the truth about Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Islam, etc. In its promotional
material, it claims to be a channel dedicated to "building bridges,"
but we say bridges can only be built with the truth, as ugly as it may
be."
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- When asked if he was surprised at this
latest development, Tillawi's answer was "NoI knew that this would
happen eventually, I just did not know that it would happen this quickly.
Unfortunately you cannot tell the truth about Israel indefinitely in the
United States, supposedly the freest country of the world." He continued
his thoughts on the matter with "We feel this shameful decision by
Bridges TV management will go down in infamy because now Muslims are censoring
other Muslims from telling the truth to the world about the thousands of
Palestinian, Iraqi, and Afghani children who are being killed by the Israeli-American
War machine."
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- The rest of us have to wonder what the
reason was for this censure? Was it the programs dealing with the use of
Depleted Uranium in Iraq and Afghanistan? Was it the interview with His
Excellency Afif Safieh, the Palestinian Ambassador to Washington telling
the truth concerning the Israeli atrocities against the Palestinians?
Was it the interview with the Syrian Ambassador revealing what America's
intentions were in the Middle East? Was it the interview with Dr Norman
Finkelstein exposing Zionism and what it is? Was it the interview with
Congressman Paul Findley exposing AIPAC and the Jewish control of congress?
Was it the interview with Mordechai Vanunu, the Israeli nuclear scientist
who exposed the Israeli Nuclear capacity? Was it the interview with Israel
Shamir who exposed the racist policies of his country, Israel? Was it the
interview with Dr. Steven Sniegoski who stated that the war against Iraq
was for Israel? Or could it be the interview with Alison Weir exposing
the reality of the Palestinian-Israeli issue? Maybe it was the interview
with Lt Col Karen Kwiatkowski, who worked at the Pentagon and exposed the
influence of the Neocons and the Israelis at the Defense Department? The
list goes on and on with interviews that the Main Stream Media would not
even touch due to the Jewish influence over the media.
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- Tillawi added that "We always spoke
out against this influence over the media and now we ourselves have become
victims of this influence. One thing that hurts like hell is the fact that
it was a Muslim who pulled the plug to stop the show from reaching a nationwide
audience."
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- It is interesting but probably not coincidental
to note that a short time before Bridges TV ended its association with
Current Issues, the ADL, domestic branch of Israeli Intelligence operating
in the United States, added Dr Hesham Tillawi to its list of most "notorious
anti-Zionist,anti-Semites". Those who are familiar with the
tactics of the ADL know that the typical way that they do business is to
threaten and intimidate anyone who is involved with the business of exposing
the truth as it pertains to Israel and the way that the Jewish agenda works
in the United States. Therefore it is not unreasonable to expect that in
some fashion Bridges TV was contacted by a representative of the ADL and
told to cease broadcasting episodes of Current Issues or face the consequences.
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- When asked whether this latest setback
would affect the way that he and the producers of Current Issues do business,
he said. "Absolutely it willNow the gloves are coming off and we are
not going to worry about whose toes get stepped on when it comes to discussing
the truth. There is a great lesson here about appeasement and giving into
the demands of a bully. Bullies never get enough, and even when you give
them everything they want they still aren't satisfied."
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- This is not the end, but the beginning.
Current Issues will continue broadcast on Cox Cable, Amazonas Satellite
and the Internet, until we find a brave man or a brave woman who will put
us back on nationwide syndication.
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- Hesham Tillawi, PhD International Relations
is a Palestinian American writer, Political Analyst and a TV show host.
His program Current issues with Hesham Tillawi can be viewed Live every
Thursday evening between 9-11 PM Central Standard Time on Cox Cable system
Channel 5 in Louisiana, Nationwide on Bridges TV, and Worldwide on Amazonas
Satellite, as well as Live on the Internet at http://www.currentissues.tv
and can be contacted at Tillawi@currentissues.tv Interviews then archived
for on demand viewing at www.currentissues.tv
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