Lebanese TV station apologises for calling Palestinians terrorists

A Lebanese television station has come under fire from Palestinian activists after it said that attacks against Israeli nightclubs were acts of terrorism, prompting a swift apology from the broadcaster.

LBCI aired a report this week on the history of terror attacks against nightclubs, in light of the deadly New Year's shooting in Istanbul, which included two incidents linked to Islamist group Hamas.

The TV report said that the 2001 Dolphinarium disco bombing in Tel Aviv, which killed 21 mostly teenage girls, and the 2002 Rishon LeZion bombing of a game club, which killed 57 people, were "acts of terror".

Hamas, which controls the besieged Gaza Strip, quickly issued a statement condemning the report.

"What Palestinians are doing is classified as legitimate acts of resistance against occupation, which is illegal under international law," it said.

"Palestinians have the right to defend themselves and their land in order to achieve freedom and rid themselves of occupation."

On social media, some Palestinian activists launched an Arabic-language hashtag #ResistanceIsNotTerrorism to express their anger at the Lebanese station.

Even Israeli Defence Forces Arabic spokesman, Avichay Adraee, joined in on the debate on Twitter, saying that the channel "was right to use the correct terminology and label terrorism as terrorism."

In response to the uproar, LBCI issued an apology, saying that it had used copy from French news agency Agence France-Presse [AFP] without making any edits to the text.

"Israel was and will always be an enemy state because of its daily acts of terrorism against Palestinians such as the blockade of Gaza… and killing them at the humiliating checkpoints," the statement read.

"Under international conventions signed at the Hague resistance is permissible against the occupation," it added.

Three Lebanese citizens were killed and four others were wounded in the shooting that took place at a crowded nightclub in Istanbul on New Year's Eve.