Tuesday, April 6, 2010

My Favorite Israeli Blog Post Violating the Anat Kam Gag Order

Since I am having a bit of Tikun Olam envy -- it seems like everybody and his sister is sending Richard Silverstein "classified" information from Israel --- I decided to scoop him and print what has got to be the most sensational news in the case so far.

I don't know if I can mention that the post below was copied and pasted from Room 404, Ido Kenan's blog -- oops, my bad, I mean, "Pedro's blog" -- but what the heck, I am writing this in Philadelphia, which is SO far away from Israel and Dubai.

Note to Yossi from the Shabak: I live in apt. 1616, 834 Chestnut St. My zip code? Hey, you guys can look it up.

Anyway, thanks for making me laugh, Pedro. The comments are a hoot, too.

████ ████ ████ ██████ ████ ██████ ██ ██████ ██████ (███████:█████ █████) ███ ███ █████ ████ ██████ █████ “████ ████” ███ █████ ██████ █████, ██████ ███████. █████ ████ ███ ██████ ████ █████ ███████ █████ ██████ █████. ██████ ████ ████ ██████ █████ █████ ████ ██████, ███ █████ ████ ███████ ████████ ██████ ████ █████ ████ ███████ █████ █████. ███ ██████ ██ ██████ █████ ██████ ███████ ██████, ████ ██████ ███ ██████ █████, ████ ██ █████ █████ ██ ██ ██████. █████ ███ ██ “█████ ████” ██ ███ ███ ███ ██████ (███ █████ █████). • ███ █████: ███████ ███ ████ ███████ 6.04.2010 / 19:52 | בנושאים ███

Of course, the subject itself isn't funny. I haven't written about it for the same reason that other Israeli bloggers haven't written about it -- we were told that Kam or her lawyer didn't want us, too. But that appears to have been part of the government's plan to wear her down, to squelch public discussion before the trial and/or the plea bargain. Already, the strategy has been successful.

The parallels to the publication of the Pentagon Papers are real -- except that the US had then a free press. Look what Reporters Without Borders printed about Israel in their 2009 Annual Report.

Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s military offensive against the Gaza Strip, had an impact on the press. As regards its internal situation, Israel sank 47 places in the index to 93rd position. This nose-dive means it has lost its place at the head of the Middle Eastern countries, falling behind Kuwait (60th), United Arab Emirates (86th) and Lebanon (61st).

Israel has begun to use the same methods internally as it does outside its own territory. Reporters Without Borders registered five arrests of journalists, some of them completely illegal, and three cases of imprisonment. The military censorship applied to all the media is also posing a threat to journalists.

As regards its extraterritorial actions, Israel was ranked 150th. The toll of the war was very heavy. Around 20 journalists in the Gaza Strip were injured by the Israeli military forces and three were killed while covering the offensive

Israel ranks below Jordan, Lebanon, and Kuwait, in freedom of the press. Way below.

Just wait until the 2010 report.

2 comments:

Richard said...

Hey, for a minute there I was about to be pissed that I missed a scoop on this story! But that's VERY funny & thanks for posting.

Maybe next time a story like this breaks we can partner on it so we'll ea. get half the heat instead of all. That's a joke actually since all the heat is on Israelis here & they're the brave ones doing all the heavy lifting. Kol hakavod lahem.

Zev said...

As I expected, very thoughtful and entertainingly expressed ideas. I admit, however to being one of those who finds the boycott idea viscerally repugnant, even while agreeing with your logic regarding the potential it has to achieve good for Israel as well as the Palestinians. Perhaps the idea will grow on me with time.

Meanwhile, I look forward to reading more. I hope, though, that you are also speaking to those who aren't largely in agreement with you. Ze'ev (from Mikve Israel)