Israel targets "peace" radio station

After RAM FM went on the air last year, the English-language radio station launched an ad campaign with the motto: Music has no boundaries.

This week, the South Africa-funded radio station trying to promote Israeli-Palestinian co-existence discovered that it does.

On Monday, Israeli police raided RAM FM's Jerusalem office,, arrested eight and seized the station's transmitter.

The raid was apparently based on Israel's claim that RAM FM is a pirate radio station operating without a license - a charge RAM FM officials deny.

Today, after the Foreign Press Association denounced the arrests as "absurd," the RAM Fm staff members (including a friend of mine) were released from jail and placed under house arrest.

Despite the Israeli raid, RAM FM offices in Ramallah remain open and the station remains on the air.

Even if the station does not have the proper license, it's not clear why Israeli police had to arrest and jail young reporters and other staff members.

An Israeli official told Reuters that the arrests were not politically motivated, but this is not the first time that RAM journalists have been targeted by Israel.

RAM FM went on the air last year in hopes of using music to create new links between Israelis and Palestinians. The station can be heard from Tel Aviv to Jericho and claims to have about 200,000 listeners.

"We build bridges through music and entertainment, rather than through politics and contentious issues," the RAM FM station manager told Haaretz last month.

In its infancy, the station is definitely a work-in-progress.

The song selection careens from retro to hokey to cheesy modern hit. RAM FM deliberately steers clear of songs in Arabic or Hebrew. The DJ banter can often be as mindless as anything you'd hear on US radio stations. And the small, young news staff is still working to develop its voice.

If bad song selection was reason enough to close a radio station, Israel might have some standing. But the circumstances leading up to the raid and arrests are curious, especially since RAM FM has been operating for a year and promoted itself across Israel.

If Israeli officials had a problem with the station's license, it's not clear why they didn't simply call RAM FM officials in for a meeting instead of staging a raid.

UPDATE: Here's a statement issued Wednesday by the Foreign Press Association.

"The Foreign Press Association demands the immediate freedom of eight RAM-FM staff members who have been placed under house arrest and forbidden to speak publicly.

Three of the eight are accredited journalists with valid GPO cards, and their arrests raise particular concern about the issue of freedom of expression in Israel.

Regardless of the merits of the charges brought by the Ministry of Communication against RAM-FM, the FPA strongly deplores the tactics used by authorities in this case, which have included raiding RAM-FM's offices, seizing its equipment, arresting its staff for 24 hours, and then placing personnel under house arrest.

We call upon the government of Israel to recognize the peaceful spirit under which RAM-FM operates and its goal of fostering coexistence between the Israeli and Palestinian people."

Comments

[Edie]

Sometimes when I'm working in my office I'll stream radio station 107.2 All For Peace. I like it because you never know what you're going to get: Hebrew, Arabic, modern dance, oldies, Inglebert Humpledink, Queen ...

Wierd though - a couple fo weeks back it was nothing, but Russian.

Have you heard of this station? What's it's story?

You can streamit live, like RAM FM, at www.allforpeace.org

[Mobius]

I used to be a DJ on All For Peace. It's a jointly-operated Israeli-Palestinian radio station that records in East Jerusalem and broadcasts from Ramallah.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/826520.html

[Edie]

I really enjoy it, but almost stopped listening when it went through this All Russian period. I have nothing against Russian - don't take me wrong - it's just All Russian, All The Time can be a bit much.

I'll have to give RAM FM a try for awhile.

[harry]

I don't think this was politically motivated, though the way they went about it was fairly draconian. The police did the same thing to Radio West, another English radio station (though they were for profit) about ten years ago.

So what are the facts here? Do they have a license or not? If they say yes then certainly they have documentation from the Ministry of Communication to prove it. I can't imagine this is a "he said, she said" situation.

Though it is curious why Shas pirate radio stations aren't shut down. Oh, that's write, because Shas has this country by the balls.

I know they have offices in Jerusalem, but I was under the impression that RAMFM's transmitter was in Ramallah, not Jerusalem.

[Marian Houk]

Yes, what are the facts here -- specifically concerning the question of proper licensing in Jerusalem?

It is not at all clear what was going on concerning the matter of licensing for RAM-FM -- but it is very hard, if not impossible to believe that a commercial, glossy, non-political organization like that would be so stupid or foolish as to set up expensive offices with expensive equipment in Jerusalem (and their studio was in West Jerusalem) without having the proper licensing.
Nor is it obvious that RAM-FM was doing this to test or challenge any Israeli licensing procedure.

What RAM-FM has been announcing ON AIR for the past six months is that this second frequency was being used for the convenience of listeners in the Jerusalem area who were having trouble hearing the broadcast from the Ramallah transmission.

The station has an attorney. He told Reuters that the arrested staff "were accused of establishing and operating a broadcast station without a permit ... obviously we have denied the allegations".

RAM-FM said that the station believes it was operating "within the parameters of the law".

The exact point of law at dispute is not clear. It could be that there is some interpretation that could be thought to justify the broadcasting on the other frequency in Jerusalem -- this is what will be interesting to learn.

Raf Gangat just said on air (on Thursday) that it is "just a matter of time before we sort out the 87.7 frequency" that RAM-FM has been using. RAM-FM has been announcing on air for six months that this frequency was being used to help listeners in some areas of Jerusalem where it has been hard to receive the station's broadcast.

This is not how a pirate radio station operates.

The FPA president has also said that if there is a dispute about frequencies, or about licensing, there are other ways to go about addressing the matter than arresting and terrorizing whoever happens to be on the premises on any given day.

All those involved on the Israeli side in this action -- that is, the Ministry of Communications, and the Attorney General's office, and the Police -- seem to be pointing the finger at each other for the severe and harsh methods that have inexplicably been used in this case.

[mikey]

I am certain that this was not a political event, since Israel also closed right wing radio stations which did not have licenses in recent years.

[Michael (UK)]

Isreal snubs Jimmy Carter's peace efforts and bans a "peace" radio station. What does this tell us?

[Phil]

95% of their news supports Palestinians views against Israel, 95% of their news criticises Israel.

Ram FM never details the daily number of Kassams from Gaza hitting Sderot.

Ram FM never details the number of missiles from Gaza hitting Ashkelon.

Ram FM never criticises Hamas, or the terrorists who daily attack civilian targets in Israel.

No wonder their studio was closed. They are not a 'peace' station, in fact they incite hatred against Israel and Israeli Jews.