PARIS, France – Prime Minister Raffarin yesterday called for a TV channel run by the Lebanese Shiite terrorist group Hezbollah to be taken off the air after it accused Israel of exporting AIDS to the Middle East.

Mr. Raffarin told the upper French Assembly, the Senat, that he intends to revoke the license of the Al-Manar satellite station that had been granted by the CSA, the French Broadcasting Authority.

“The programs of Al-Manar are incompatible with our values. It is clear they will lead to the cancellation of the agreement between the CSA and Al-Manar,” Mr. Raffarin said. “We do not have the legal means to act right away today.

“Sometimes, law is slow. This is why I will very soon take a legislative initiative that will give us the means to stop at once such programs supporting hatred and violence and human vileness,” he added.

CSA delivered a license to Al-Manar on November 19 enabling the Lebanon based satellite TV station to broadcast over France and all the member states of the European Union.

Three days ago, however, CSA president Dominique Baudis wrote to Al-Manar, “In spite of the TV channel’s written commitments to abide by French law, Al-Manar broadcasts may constitute a breach of public order. The French Broadcasting Authority has identified several programs liable to constitute severe violations of (your) commitments.” Mr. Baudis quoted a program broadcast on November 23 mentioning “The Zionist attempts to transmit dangerous diseases like AIDS through exports to Arab countries.”

The decision to license Al-Manar outraged the leaders of the Jewish community and many French political leaders of the Socialist opposition and of the right-wing majority as well. Two major American Jewish organizations, the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee, wrote harshly worded letters to President Chirac asking him to cancel the license given to Al-Manar.

In Israel, the foreign minister, Silvan Shalom, issued a statement praising the French government and taking credit for its action against Al-Manar.

“We congratulate the French government for taking this decision…Our ministry has campaigned against Hezbollah in Europe and the step taken by the French government is one of the results of this campaign,” he said.

Mr. Raffarin said the Al-Manar issue would be brought up at the meeting of European heads of government later this month.

“We need to bring a European response to this propaganda of hate,” he said.

Mr. Shalom called on the European Union to classify Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, as America has done.