Overnight Monday, as part of its ongoing battle against incitement against Israel, an IDF and Civil Administration operation shut down the Al Hurria radio station in Hebron. Israeli security forces confiscated broadcasting equipment in order to prevent the incitement which the IDF spokesperson’s office says has caused a flare of violence in the region over recent weeks.

The Al Hurria radio station was formed in 2002 in the Gaza Strip by the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) and was transferred to Hebron after Hamas took over the Gaza Strip. Since its inauguration, the station has been shut down twice, in 2002 and 2008.

According to the IDF’s press release, the station encourages stabbing attacks and violent riots, and it reports false and malicious claims about security forces executing and kidnapping Palestinians in order to provoke violence. The station glorifies attacks against Israelis and congratulates the families of attackers who died while executing attacks. But in that it is similar to the vast majority of Arab publications, in and out of the “green line.” A review of the station’s Facebook page (with the help of Facebook and Google translations) reveals the common fare of lies and praises to dead terrorists. It also promotes the Palestinian notion, initially conceived by the Hamas, that Israeli society is brittle and quick to act on its fears. In that vein, it celebrated the terrorist attack in Be’er Sheva, in which an Eritrean migrant worker was killed because he looked like a terrorist.

According to the IDF spokesman’s office statement, “Incitement has been core in aggravation, encouraging and celebration of the recent wave of terror. In the past month Palestinians have executed 29 attacks (22 stabbings, 4 run-over attacks and 3 shooting attacks) against Israeli civilians and security forces in Hebron.”

It remains to be seen whether shutting down the hate-spreading Al Hurria radio station will have any effect on violence in Hebron. The city has been a hub of violence, and a Hamas stronghold in Judea, ever since it was handed back to then Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in January, 1997. Surrendering 97% of the city to the PA changed it dramatically, making it the most explosive area in Judea and Samaria, surpassing the Arab neighborhoods of eastern Jerusalem.