On the issue of France's conflict with Hizbullah-owned TV channel Al-Manar, media reports showed Saturday that there were two trends emerging in France. One is calling on the French government to reconsider its decision to ban Al-Manar from broadcasting in the country, and resolve the case away from political pressures, and the other hard-line movement is stressing the need to ban the channel to avoid anti-Semitic programs aired by Al-Manar.

Assafir reported that French diplomats have urged Al-Manar officials to resolve this issue away silently away from the media. Earlier, France took the decision to ban Al-Manar from broadcasting citing that the media outlet air programs incited violence. However, officials from Al-Manar said France's move was in response to pressure made by the Jewish lobby in Paris, especially that Hizbullah is one of Israel's staunchest enemies and the Jewish state has accused Al-Manar of broadcasting anti-Semitic programs.

The Jewish campaign against Al-Manar started following the airing of a program called "Diaspora" which recounts the Israeli persecution of the Palestinians in 1948. Al-Manar has appointed Lebanese lawyer Nassib Chedid to defend its case before the French judiciary along with another French lawyer whose name has not yet been revealed. Meanwhile, the paper reported that the head of the Lebanese national audiovisual council, Abdelhadi Mahfouz, said after a meeting with the council members that although French laws stipulate that racist programs should not be aired, Hizbullah's Diaspora program was not anti-Semitic and fell within the framework of the age-old Arab-Israeli conflict. The paper reported that Lebanese Information Minister Michel Samaha met Friday with Hizbullah Secretary General Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah and told him that he thought this issue was politically motivated and that he supported Al-Manar.