OPINION – Why Is Iran-backed Houthi Terror Media Still Broadcasting Into Europe?
By allowing Houthi propaganda to air from its satellites, Europe betrays the values it claims to defend and becomes complicit in spreading extremist hate
In an era when democratic nations claim to champion human rights and counter violent extremism, it is both astonishing and profoundly troubling that Europe’s satellites continue to beam the propaganda of an armed group designated by many as a terrorist organization.
Through channels such as Al-Masirah TV and its affiliates, the Iran-backed Houthi armed group broadcasts daily messages of hate, violence, and jihad—glorifying bloodshed, indoctrinating children, and spreading sectarian hostility across Yemen and beyond.
One of the most disturbing manifestations of this rhetoric is the slogan that defines Houthi ideology and saturates their media broadcasts: “Death to America, death to Israel, curse upon the Jews, victory to Islam.”
This is not a political slogan; it is a call to hatred, a direct incitement to violence against entire peoples and faiths.
The repetition of this slogan in televised chants, children’s programming, and news broadcasts transforms it into a psychological weapon, normalizing hate, legitimizing violence, and ensuring that intolerance is passed from one generation to the next.
The problem goes far beyond a single channel.
The Houthi movement today operates a full satellite package on the European Eutelsat network, which includes not only its own propaganda outlets but also former state-owned Yemeni channels the group seized after storming government facilities in Sana’a, such as Yemen TV, Saba TV, and Al-Iman Channel.
These channels, still broadcasting under the official name and emblem of the Republic of Yemen, are being used as tools of an armed faction that many governments and institutions, including the United Nations, the European Union, and France, regard as illegitimate.
By allowing these hijacked state channels to continue broadcasting under Houthi control, Eutelsat is not just facilitating extremist propaganda; it is violating basic principles of international law, media regulation, and national sovereignty.
Every day these channels remain on air means more children indoctrinated, more hatred planted, and another generation lost to extremism.
Give the gift of hope
We practice what we preach:
accurate, fearless journalism. But we can't do it alone.
- On the ground in Gaza, Syria, Israel, Egypt, Pakistan, and more
- Our program trained more than 100 journalists
- Calling out fake news and reporting real facts
- On the ground in Gaza, Syria, Israel, Egypt, Pakistan, and more
- Our program trained more than 100 journalists
- Calling out fake news and reporting real facts
Join us.
Support The Media Line. Save democracy.
The harm is not abstract; it is measurable in classrooms where Yemeni children are taught to chant for death instead of learning science, and in communities where coexistence is replaced by fear and fanaticism.
Western governments have rightly cracked down on online extremism, shutting down websites, freezing accounts, and sanctioning platforms that host terrorist content.
Yet when the same content is broadcast on European satellites, the silence is deafening.
This double standard is not neutrality; it is complicity
This double standard is not neutrality; it is complicity.
It also undermines the moral credibility of Europe’s human rights discourse and its leadership in countering violent extremism.
At its core, this is Europe’s moral failure: the failure to uphold the values it claims to defend when faced with extremist propaganda transmitted from its own soil.
Eutelsat and ARCOM, France’s audiovisual regulator, can no longer hide behind technicalities or bureaucratic excuses.
European and international laws explicitly prohibit the dissemination of content that incites hatred, violence, or terrorism.
France, as a founding member of the European Union and the birthplace of liberté, égalité, fraternité, bears both a legal and moral responsibility to act.
It must ensure that ARCOM enforces its regulations and terminates any broadcasting licenses or satellite contracts that allow Houthi propaganda to reach millions of homes worldwide.
This is not merely a Yemeni issue.
What the Houthis are doing is not journalism; it is an Iranian-designed propaganda machine, a psychological weapon aimed at destroying Yemen’s social fabric and poisoning an entire generation
What the Houthis are doing is not journalism; it is an Iranian-designed propaganda machine, a psychological weapon aimed at destroying Yemen’s social fabric and poisoning an entire generation.
Each day these channels remain live, more of Yemen’s future is lost.
If the West truly stands for freedom, peace, and human dignity, it must hold itself to the same standards it demands of others.
Turning a blind eye to Houthi propaganda on European satellites is not a technical oversight; it is moral surrender.
History will remember those who chose to look away.
