The “Qudsna” visual satellite radio station launched its broadcast on Wednesday as part of efforts to strengthen the Palestinian narrative, whose traditional media platforms are subject to severe restrictions.
Through its broadcasts, the radio aims to provide news coverage of current events in Palestine, reflect in its programs the opinions of Palestinians, and shed light on their issues from their various political, cultural, economic and social aspects.
Qudsna plans to provide in-depth analyzes and comprehensive coverage of current events, contributing to providing a deeper understanding of the Palestinian issue to the global audience.
The radio said in a statement, “Its launch comes as a media response to the Al-Aqsa flood battle, and a contribution to supplying Palestinian content, which is constantly being subjected to restrictions on all social media platforms.”
The radio’s public relations director, Amir Yaish, told Al Jazeera Net, “The radio seeks to provide a free and open platform for all political orientations without red lines, and works to host writers, analysts, and specialists on various topics that are in the interest of the Palestinian cause.”
He added, “The radio is trying to deal with the challenges and limitations imposed by social media platforms, especially in light of the increasing restrictions on Palestinian content, by broadcasting via IPTV receivers and video and audio broadcasting.”
Amir Yaish stressed that “the radio aims to enhance awareness of the Palestinian issue by providing comprehensive and diverse coverage broadcast from Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, with plans to expand the scope of broadcasting to include other regions.”
Regarding the challenges facing the project, Yaish says, “The most prominent of which were the logistical challenges, but thanks to the efforts made, Qudsna was able to overcome these obstacles to successfully present its programs.”
He pointed out that the radio “is distinguished by its innovative style of broadcasting, as it combines the use of modern technologies and communication with the public at various levels.”
He concluded by saying, “Through this launch, Qudsna reflects its ambitious vision of being an influential voice in the Palestinian and Arab media, expressing the aspirations and hopes of the Palestinian people everywhere.”
Since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza, the Palestinian media has been subjected to restrictions, as the Al-Aqsa satellite channel announced that it would stop broadcasting its channel from the Eutelsat satellite due to what it said was “French pressure.”
The channel said in a statement published on its Telegram channel on October 15, 2023, “In light of the massacres committed against our people in the Gaza Strip, the French company responsible for the Eutelsat satellite issued a decision to block the channel’s logo from the satellite and stop broadcasting it.”
According to the statement, the channel – which was established in 2006 and broadcasts from the Gaza Strip – attributed its cessation of broadcasting to “the company’s response to pressure from the French government and submission to the Israeli occupation government.”
On October 29, 2023, the Israeli occupation authorities closed the headquarters of “Dream Radio” in the city of Hebron in the southern West Bank and prevented it from broadcasting, according to the Palestinian News Agency (Wafa).
The general director of the radio, Talab Al-Jaabari, said that the occupation authorities informed him, via a phone call, of the decision to close the radio and stop its work, and threatened him to storm it and destroy its contents if it resumed broadcasting under the pretext of disrupting the movement of occupation aircraft.
Bloggers also complained on social media platforms about restrictions and restrictions on publishing content related to Palestine, and blocking its access to social media users.
On November 29, activists around the world launched the “We Will Not Be Silenced” campaign to protest the ban on supportive content. For Palestine And narrowing its reach across social media platforms, especially on Facebook and Instagram.
The campaign, which was launched to coincide with the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People and is still ongoing, called on activists around the world to participate in marking “#wewontbesilenced” (We will not be silenced).
