Israeli-Backed 'God TV' in UK Hits Salem-News.com With Legal Assault

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Salem-News.com is the largest voice in American online news telling the truth about Israel's occupation of Palestine and many other subjects; none of which make us popular.

(SALEM, Ore.) - Salem-News.com is in a legal battle with 'God TV' in the UK because we published video from their TV show showing them cheering the demolition of Palestinian homes so Jewish settlers can build colonies atop historic villages that have existed for hundreds of years.

We need the backing of our readers and those who care. Most of you do not realize that Bonnie King and I are not wealthy, we are not supported by immediate or distant family members, we simply barely exist. We are accused by our critics of "driving our Volvo" or a "Toyota Prius" and I laugh to myself. I know most people can't imagine that we live in a poverty status but that is the case.

For six years we have been running this online news group and getting poorer and poorer. We don't even own a car.

In the beginning our motivations were to build something that would become a lifetime business and that is still the case. Little did we know however, that our small staff would inevitably manage numerous specific, demanding, important subjects not being discussed by most other media groups.

History tells us these subjects have been on target.

Here they are:

• Exposing the truth about Israel and the violent occupation of Palestine
• Assisting the nation in its quest to understand Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• Exposing Oregon's protection of racist practices in the state's prisons
• Keeping Americans abreast of political developments in Africa
• Helping people worldwide understand the implications of GMO food and the history of Monsanto and Agent Orange
• Bringing the truth forward about medical marijuana and natural non-toxic healthcare treatments
• Exposing the deadly contamination of the El Toro Marine base in California, Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, and a growing list of other sites

Do these things matter to you? They matter to us. This is really just a partial list of the areas we concentrate our energies on. If you don't care then move on and find something you would rather read. Maybe our swan song isn't what you need today but so be it.

My point is that this is it; if people help us we can bring change, we are already doing this but the increments are small. We have over 20,000 unique visitors almost every day. We have never promoted Salem-News.com with any proper nationwide campaign, and we have never received any type of backing except 'band aid' assistance from friends who care, even our writers for goodness sake. It doesn't seem right that they should need to do this, and so I extend this plea to you, our readers, to help.

Back to the God TV problem, their beef is that we are allegedly guilty of a UK copyright infringement. Why? Because we carried a video clip of their own TV show that is publicly posted on Vimeo with an embed code denoting it is totally available to use. We used it within a news story as reference, something done as a benefit to the reader. As of now, the video has been removed from the story, though it continues to be available online irregardless of Salem-News.com.

News organizations are protected from this kind of onslaught in the United States (see Fair Use), but across the pond things are done a little differently and this particular group is taking advantage of that, ceasing the opportunity.

The real story behind their anger is simple: we told the truth. With or without a video frame on the story, the truth remains the same. This group is relying on God's name to call for the pillaging of Palestinian people. That is damned unacceptable in my book and we will find ways to report the truth- and never stop.

For now we have to defend ourselves; not only are they trying to disrupt our relationship with our server group, they are also in contact with our domain server. Bonnie calls this poking us with a stick. Well, they've got my attention.

This is 100% strong-arming tactics at play. They have endless money to hire lawyers and harass our small group of truth bearers.

Here is the full letter we originally received from Davenport Lyons, a London attorney. Any lawyers in London who support Palestine and can help us pro bono with this would be greatly appreciated.

22 December 2010 Notification of copyright infringement

We represent the Angel Foundation. The Angel Foundation owns GOD TV, a television channel and website that spreads religious messages globally.

It has come to our client's attention that an article entitled "Killing in the Name..." (the "Article) posted on your website has embedded into it a video entitled "GOD TV and Jewish National Fund's Forest of Hate (the "video"). Interpolated into the Video is video footage belonging to our client which was first broadcast on GOD TV's BTS and which is clearly marked with our client's (registered) trade mark (the "Footage"). Further you have partially transcribed the dialog from the Footage itself and the underlying literacy and/or dramatic rights (together, the "Works") were created by and vest in our client. The URL of the article in question is:

Dec-19-2010: http://www.salem-news.com/articles/december192010/god-forest-mb.php

The use of the Works is not authorised by our client. Accordingly, you are infringing on our client's rights by copying and communicating the Works to the public on your website (and to the extent necessary you are hereby put on formal notice of the same). Please therefore confirm by return, that the Article will be taken down (note that the Video has already been taken down by YouTube and Metacefe)

We look forward to hearing from you by return,

Yours faithfully

Davenport Lyons

This is what we received from the company that provides our server:

"Unfortunately a security related incident has occurred involving a server or account for which you are responsible. The text of the report, as it was provided by the complaining party, is below. Please remove or otherwise resolve this issue to stop it from continuing. Normally we can provide 24 hours to resolve an issue but that time may be extended if you require more. 24 hours notice before disconnection cannot be guaranteed in all cases.

*** You must respond to this ticket now via myCP in any case. Please notify us if you need more time, if the issue is already resolved, or if you need assistance. ***

"Obtaining assistance with this issue may be billable depending on its complexity. We encourage you to attempt to resolve the issue yourself whenever possible."

This video currently remains available on Vimeo, for all to see- share- or embed. The fact that we published it however, has brought a stream of contact from God TV's legal staff. It just doesn't fit.

Please help us fight this problem, we are dedicated but lack the means to defend ourselves. This group working on behalf of Israel has extremely deep pockets.

Beyond that we are already in need of support and assistance. Our stories are powerful and they are widely read by many around the world, though that doesn't equate in ad revenue. We greatly appreciate the sponsors we do have, we are always looking for more, and look forward to the day when it isn't so hard to exist and do our jobs. That day will come.

We have PayPal to receive funds electronically (Click Here), and if for any reason it does not function, because it can get a little tricky sometimes, please go to the front of www.Salem-News.com and visit the PayPal link at the top right corner of the front page.

Another way to help is by sending a check to our Post Office box. Your help will be directly applied and help sustain us.

Salem-News.com P.O. Box 5238 Salem, OR. 97304

The solidarity means everything. As far as we know there is not a privately owned news group in the US that receives our kind of traffic. 60,000 to 70,000 of our articles are opened every 24-hours. The fact that we are a news group and not a blog places Salem-News.com in a very unique category.

We have almost 18,000 articles published online, more than 70 contributing writers, and more original content than we know what to do with (figuratively).

We are also open to ideas from investors, as long as they understand our vision and why we do what we do. We have the ability to change big things and that is why we have Israeli groups like GOD TV trying to take us out. Emphasis on trying. Please help however you can, thank you.

These are the articles we have published that reference GOD TV:

Dec-29-2010: Jesus Recruited for 'Ethnic Cleansing' Forest - God-TV Helps Israel Oust Bedouin - Jonathan Cook Special to Salem-News.com

Dec-19-2010: Killing in the Name... - Salem-News.com

Dec-03-2010: Uprooting the Bedouins of Israel - Neve Gordon for Salem-News.com

Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer

Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines.

Tim holds numerous awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), first place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Tim has several years of experience in network affiliate news TV stations, having worked as a reporter and photographer at NBC, ABC and FOX stations in Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website. As News Editor, Tim among other things, is responsible for publishing the original content of 65 Salem-News.com writers. He reminds viewers that emails are easily missed and urges those trying to reach him, to please send a second email if the first goes unanswered. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com