After being shut down last month under the pretense of having no valid operating license, Nativity TV is still not back on the air. Nativity TV is the only Christian television station in the Palestinian Authority (PA) and operates out of Bethlehem.
Last month, after the TV station was shut down by the PA, an international outcry forced officials to rescind their closure order.
However, in protest of the PA’s actions, Nativity TV refuses to resume programming until the PA apologizes for shutting them down.
The TV station, which is called Al-Mahed in Arabic, has been operating for 14 years.
According to Israeli National News, the incident was possibly part of a broader campaign of religious intimidation. The media reports:
There has been increased harassment of Christian Arabs by Muslims [click here for details – ed.] in the Palestinian Authority in recent years, especially in towns such as Bethlehem, a central point of worship in the Christian religion. The TV station, located about 350 meters from Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, has for years promoted itself as the “only Christian voice” in the otherwise Muslim PA media. (IsraelNationalNews.com)
Al-Mahed Nativity TV’s website says they have about 1,000,000 viewers.
As reported by Genevieve Long for Before It’s News