The station has been monitored closely for anti-Semitic output

The Council of State ordered France-based satellite company Eutelsat to stop transmitting Lebanese station al-Manar within 48 hours.

Al-Manar issued a statement claiming the ban was the result of Israeli pressure "following a political campaign by the Zionist lobby".

The station also criticised the ban as an attack on freedom of expression.

The court cited a 23 November broadcast in which a speaker accused Israel of deliberately disseminating Aids in Arab nations.

It said the channel had shown itself incapable of conforming to French law al-Manar had been authorised to continue broadcasting in Europe by France's media watchdog after signing an undertaking not to incite hatred or violence.

But on 2 December French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin called for the station to be taken off air for its "anti-Semitic" content "incompatible with French values".

The station, backed by the Lebanon's Iranian-sponsored Islamist movement Hezbollah, can be beamed to France on at least two non-French satellites, over which the court has no jurisdiction.

Last week, Lebanese officials warned measures against the channel could spark retaliatory sanctions on French media outlets in Lebanon.