DayofPal– The Israeli government approved on Sunday a proposal that instructs all government-funded organizations to cut ties with Haaretz and retract advertisements from the newspaper.
The Israeli government decision came after Haaretz publisher Amos Schocken said during a speech at a conference in London on 1 November that “The Netanyahu government doesn’t care about imposing a cruel apartheid regime on the Palestinian population. He further described Gaza resistance as freedom fighters.
“It dismisses the costs of both sides for defending the settlements while fighting the Palestinian freedom fighters, that Israel calls terrorists,” he explained.
The Israeli government alleged the remarks ‘hurt the legitimacy of the state of Israel and its right to self-defence’. The proposal, which was added to the cabinet meeting agenda at the last minute, was endorsed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Despite that Haaretz subsequently issued an editorial disavowing its publisher, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi called for a government boycott of the newspaper and submitted a proposal detailing a series of restrictions.
In response to Israeli government proposal, Haaretz released a statement on Sunday accusing Netanyahu of trying to silence Israeli democracy, deeming it a step in Netanyahu’s journey to dismantle Israeli democracy.
“The opportunist resolution to boycott Haaretz, which passed in today’s government meeting without any legal review, is another step in Netanyahu’s journey to dismantle Israeli democracy. Like his friends [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan and [Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor] Orban, Netanyahu is trying to silence a critical, independent newspaper.
It also added that the attorney general’s office was unaware of the proposal being brought to a vote and had not reviewed or provided a legal opinion on it.
“Haaretz will not baulk and will not morph into a government pamphlet that publishes messages approved by the government and its leader.”
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