U.S. Aired Nasrallah Speech Because No One Knew Arabic

(IsraelNN.com) Officials in charge of the United States' Arabic-language satellite television network explained Wednesday that it aired an anti-Israel speech by Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah because none of the supervisors spoke Arabic.

"Mistakes were made," Joaquin Blaya, of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, told a House Middle East subcommittee. Nasrallah's speech was broadcast in December although Blaya admitted it "lacked journalistic or academic merit." The speech incited crowds to violence against Israel.

In another speech, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh lent support to the Iranian assertion that the World War II Holocaust against European Jews was a myth, said Democratic legislator Gary Ackerman.

"Why are American taxpayer dollars used to spread the hate, lies, and propaganda of these nuts, when our goal was to counter them?" he asked.