Al Jadeed staff fear for safety following Nasrallah mausoleum report

L'Orient-Le Jour

05-05-2025

BEIRUT — 34 employees working with the local TV station, Al-Jadeed, wrote a letter to the station's management expressing their fear for their safety, after a report was broadcasted on Friday criticizing the costs of former Hezbollah's Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah's mausoleum.
Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern suburbs of Beirut on September 27, 2024, four days after the escalation of the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.
The nine-minute report angered Hezbollah's audience as it claimed that tens of millions of dollars were spent on purchasing real estate and constructing the mausoleum while, Hezbollah members whose homes were destroyed during the war remain without shelter or compensation. Following that, a campaign of incitement was launched against the channel, with some party supporters accusing it of promoting Israeli propaganda and inciting the population against Hezbollah.
In the letter which protested the station's policy, the employees claimed that they are now in "danger," adding that threats are extending to their families and relatives as a result of the report.
They also called on the management to "act as quickly as possible to resolve these issues to ensure the safety of all its employees."
They emphasized that they do not interfere in the channel's policy and direction, but that their safety is at risk due to certain practices and the station's adoption of tendencies that could cause strife in the country.
The report showed the properties that were earlier purchased and the names of their owners as well as the identities of some new owners. According to the report, "the funds did not enter through banking channels, but were provided through non-transparent Iranian funds and bags full of smuggled dollars.'
According to the report, both the costs of purchasing the land for the project and of construction are estimated at $50 million each. The report also claims that the sale, purchase and transfer were not done legally as the Lebanese Ministry of Finance was not aware of them, adding that the buyer and seller only obtained authorization through the Hezbollah-controlled municipality of Burj al-Barajneh, an area in the Southern suburbs of Beirut.
The report, which was aired as part of a talk show hosted by host Josephine Deeb, was not produced by Al Jadeed. Moreover, according to the local newspaper Al Modon, Al Jadeed clarified that the report was not endorsed by the channel.
L'Orient Today contacted the station's administration and one of its journalists but they were not immediately available to comment.
Reacting to these claims, Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV wrote: 'Nine minutes of polished incitement, released by Al-Jadeed under the label of a journalistic investigation, appeared closer to a booby-trapped security statement, with no signature, no professional reference, and no minimum standards of accuracy. The report is filled with imaginary headlines that are not based on logic, ... aimed at fueling internal strife and incitement."
Al Manar added that Al Jadeed does not have any proofs for its claims, adding that official maps and documents refute all these allegations.
Moreover, on Saturday, Hezbollah MP, Ibrahim al-Moussawi, described the report as a 'qualified crime,' calling on the judiciary to take immediate action.