The government of Benjamin Netanyahu approved this Sunday, November 24, a proposal from its Minister of Communications aimed at cutting all ties with the center-left daily. He protests against “a new step towards the dismantling of Israeli democracy”.
This is a new stage in the repression that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is carrying out against media critical of its action. This Sunday, November 24, the Israeli government announced that it had approved a proposal from the Minister of Communications, Shlomo Karhi, intended to prohibit state institutions from all contacts and publications in the venerable opposition daily. Haaretz. A decision validated this Sunday by the Prime Minister and which “far exceeds previous ad cuts”, indicates a newspaper source at .
Already struggling with part of the audiovisual sector, attacked for years, and after having ordered the closure of Al-Jazeera in the occupied West Bank, it is therefore this daily critical of its action that the power in place is attacking . The Israeli government explains that it made this decision after the publication “numerous articles that have undermined the legitimacy of the State of Israel and its right to self-defense” et “particularly (after the) remarks made in London by the editor of Haaretz, Amos Schocken, who support terrorism and call for sanctions to be imposed on the government.
Comments by the editor of “Haaretz” targeted
During a conference co-organized by Haaretz in the British capital, on October 27, the editor of the center-left newspaper spoke, believing that Netanyahu’s government imposes “a cruel apartheid regime for the Palestinian population” et “disregards the costs incurred by both sides in defending settlements, while fighting Palestinian freedom fighters, whom Israel labels terrorists.”
Amos Schocken was then forced to clarify and amend these remarks: “Given the reactions to my calling Palestinians who commit acts of terrorism ‘freedom fighters,’ I have reconsidered my comments. Many freedom fighters around the world and throughout history, perhaps even those who fought for the creation of Israel, have committed terrible acts of terrorism, harming innocent people to achieve their goals. I should have said “freedom fighters who also use terror tactics – who must be fought”. The use of terror is not legitimate. As for Hamas, it is not a freedom fighter.”
“Dismantling of Israeli democracy”
Despite these clarifications, the Minister of Communications, Shlomo Karhi, jumped at the opportunity, at the end of October, to relaunch his proposal, already made a year earlier, to cut all ties with the daily newspaper, to cancel state subscriptions. of Israel in the newspaper and to stop placing advertisements there. At the time, the minister accused Haaretz to conduct a “false defeatist propaganda” and to have a “harmful position, compromising the objectives of the war” in Gaza. It is this text which was approved this Sunday by Netanyahu’s government.
Contacted on Sunday, the editor of Haaretz, Amos Schocken, has not yet responded to requests from . In a statement published on its site this Sunday, the newspaper protests against this «boycott», “an opportunistic resolution” who marks “a new step in Netanyahu’s journey toward dismantling Israeli democracy.” And states: “Like his friends Putin, Erdogan and Orbán, Netanyahu is trying to silence a critical and independent newspaper,” ensuring that «Haaretz will not back down.
The newspaper, founded in 1919 in Jerusalem and now based in Tel Aviv, is the oldest Israeli daily newspaper still in operation.
Source: www.liberation.fr
