IS THE ISRAELI PRESS CAVING IN TO McCARTHYISM?

January 5, 2011 at 12:52 (Civil Liberties, Corporate Media, DesertPeace Editorial, Free Speech, Freedom of The Press, Hasbara, Israel)

The Israeli army has claimed that the woman killed in last Friday’s demonstration against the wall did not die as a result of inhaling lethal tear gas, going as far as to claim she wasn’t even at the demonstration.

Let me state here that Palestine does not want martyrs. Palestine wants FREEDOM! Palestinians want STATEHOOD!!

Israel will and is doing everything in its power to prevent either from becoming a reality. Now the Israeli press is following suit by joining the chorus of lies being sung by the IDF and the government itself.

HaAretz which is supposedly the voice of the Left in Israel has also joined in as has YNet which normally publishes opinions just left of centre. Perhaps this is a result of fear stemming from a Bill which most likely will pass in the Knesset today, a proposal by Yisrael Beiteinu to establish a parliamentary committee of inquiry into Israeli organizations it says participate in delegitimization campaigns against Israeli soldiers.

YNET ends an OpEd today by writing; The Palestinians have already exploited human tragedies in the past in order to fabricate harm to residents supposedly done by Israel. Hence, it is no coincidence that security officials believe that the latest incident is the most up-to-date version of the Muhammad al-Durrah case. The report, How did Abu-Rahma die? can be read HERE.

HaAretz was no better by publishing a report containing the following; Among the soul-searching discussions taking place in the media over the circumstances of how Bil’in resident Jawaher Abu Rahmah died, one element is notably missing: proven and established facts.

This did not particularly trouble the Palestinian Authority, which rushed to describe Abu Rahmah as the victim of an Israeli war crime. And it also did not seem to disturb the Israeli media from ruling that Abu Rahmah died of leukemia and that the whole affair is a new Palestinian conspiracy aiming to transform a cancer victim into the separation fence’s Muhammad al-Dura, who was killed in Gaza at the start of the second intifada. The report that was taken from, Has Israel lost the battle to convince the world it did not kill Bil’in activist? can be read HERE.

Whatever happened to the concept of honest reporting? What ever happened to the concept of Freedom of the Press? Are both newspapers mentioned above more concerned with staying on the ‘good side’ of the bad guys that they are willing to give up whatever principles that might have had at one time?

Not surprisingly, it was the Jerusalem Post that took the initiative, almost a year ago, of making McCarthyism its official policy with the crucifixion of one of its staff members, Naomi Chazan. The prospect of seeing HaAretz go this road is frightening as there are some honest, Left voices still being heard on their pages. For them to stay in the good graces of the government will we see the likes of an Amira Hass or a Gideon Levy silenced? The very thought of that happening would truly establish the state of Israel as a fascist state. Everything must be done not to allow that to happen.

I stated above what I think Palestine wants, let me end by saying that Israelis also want FREEDOM, …. INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO DEFEND IT!

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Just off the press……………………….

Israeli police raid leftist homes

TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma’an) — Israeli activists who participate in protests against their country’s separation barrier came under state attack on Wednesday, with special forces entering homes in Tel Aviv. 

Israeli special police forces showed up outside one home in central Tel Aviv, shared by a number of left-wing activists. After spending some time outside the residence, forces attempted to enter and conduct a search. Activists said that they were not shown a search permit and refused to submit to the search.

 

Full report HERE