Post by Yitzhak Isaac GoldsteinPost by The TodalThe complaint is that ordinary people (not exclusively journalists) have
been menaced and pilloried for any criticism of the attack on Gaza, any
sympathy for wounded Palestinians.
More meaningless twaddle.
You need to read more widely. As you can see, I quote from important and
relevant source material. You, on the other hand, keep telling me what
your own views are, which tend to be very repetitive and predictable.
Yes. What's that got to do with it? Are you going to tell me that you
felt absolutely free to express your opinions in Israel, even though
those opinions are rabidly pro-Israel?
You have failed to read the links I posted previously.
I don't know which of these you can read without taking out a
subscription to Haaretz. I think you should subscribe to it. Far better
than the Guardian on Israeli issues.
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http://www.haaretz.com/news/features/.premium-1.610368
Israel Prize laureate and renowned scholar Zeev Sternhell fears the
collapse of Israeli democracy, and compares the current atmosphere with
that of 1940s’ France. The time we have left to reverse this frightening
trend is running out, he warns
I asked Sternhell now whether he thinks that very soon, we will no
longer be able to claim that we are the only democracy in the Middle East.
“Indeed, we will no longer be able to say that,” he replied, adding,
“There is no doubt that the main state authorities do not act with the
same determination against the right and against the left, or on the
eastern side of the Green Line and on the western side. All in all,
these bodies view themselves as much closer to the settlement project’s
aims than to the goal of Israel having a Jewish majority and a democracy
that grants equality to everyone. The danger is that in good periods,
when everything is ostensibly normal, the situation is glossed over. But
in a crisis, like we have now, anyone critical of the ‘normal’ order is
absolutely afraid to go out in the street.”
“What we’ve seen here in the past few weeks is absolute conformism on
the part of most of Israel’s intellectuals. They’ve just followed the
herd. By intellectuals I mean professors and journalists. The
intellectual bankruptcy of the mass media in this war is total. It’s not
easy to go against the herd, you can easily be trampled. But the role of
the intellectual and the journalist is not to applaud the government.
Democracy crumbles when the intellectuals, the educated classes, toe the
line of the thugs or look at them with a smile. People here say, ‘It’s
not so terrible, it’s nothing like fascism – we have free elections and
parties and a parliament.’ Yet, we reached a crisis in this war, in
which, without anyone asking them to do so, all kinds of university
bodies are suddenly demanding that the entire academic community roll
back its criticism.”
Do you think it’s due to fear?
“Fear of the authorities, fear of possible budgetary sanctions and fear
of pressure from the street. The personification of shame and disgrace
occurred when the dean of the law faculty of Bar-Ilan University
threatened sanctions against one of his colleagues because the latter
added a couple of sentences to an announcement about exam dates in which
he expressed sorrow at the killing and loss of life on both sides. To
grieve for the loss of life on both sides is already a subversive act,
treason. We are arriving at a situation of purely formal democracy,
which keeps sinking to ever lower levels.”
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http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.612622
In response to Tel Aviv University’s recent letter “embrac[ing] the
security forces” and threatening disciplinary action against students
and employees expressing “hurtful and extremist statements” in social
media, the university’s social science department held a conference
before a packed hall this week titled, “How to think about the war.”
“We have to make an effort and cleanse the area of the endless
security-oriented and patriotic talk, not only because we are sick and
tired of it, but because it is designed to shut down and prevent
thinking. Thinking is the most urgent thing in this war, and the most
lacking. Many institutions are working to block it, like the media, for
example,” said the Hebrew Culture Department’s Prof. Ishay Rosen-Zvi,
who initiated the conference.
He told Haaretz, “After the letter from the university administration,
we felt that we were being silenced. In addition, the public discourse
in the media was uniform and monotonous, and we felt that we were being
lied to all the time.”
During Operation Protective Edge, the administration sent out a letter
stating, “Tel Aviv University embraces the security forces and condemns
hurtful reactions on the social networks,” and “strongly condemns
hurtful and extremist statements which are being disseminated these days
on the social networks, and which have no place in the public
discourse.” The letter also warned that the administration “will operate
according to the disciplinary regulations applying to students and
employees, in every case of a violation.”
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