Israel’s censorship scandal

Judith Miller reports:

You’ve probably never heard of Anat Kamm. Few people have. But for nearly four months, the 23-year-old Israeli journalist has been under house arrest in Tel Aviv for allegedly stealing and leaking secret Israeli defense ministry documents to a journalist from Ha’aretz, one of Israel’s leading dailies.

Kamm would love to tell her side of the story, her friends and associates tell me. So would her lawyers. So, too, would Dov Alfon, the chief editor of Ha’aretz, a liberal paper, and Uri Blau, the reporter to whom Kamm allegedly leaked the documents she was said to have copied while she was completing her military service.

But they cannot talk or write about the espionage case. In an extremely rare action, an Israeli court has ordered the Israeli media not to publish or broadcast a word about Kamm, the allegations against her, or the investigation that has led Blau, the Ha’aretz reporter involved, to flee to London. For almost four months, Blau has been in self-imposed exile there to avoid answering questions about how and from whom he obtained the confidential defense department documents that are said to have resulted in a spate of stories alleging personal and institutional misconduct on the part of the Israeli Defense Forces, the hallowed IDF, and some of its senior officials.

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7 thoughts on “Israel’s censorship scandal

  1. Chris Frazier

    I just saw your article, first published in “The Daily Beast,” entitled “Israel’s Censorship Scandal.” The author is one Judith Miller, a/k/a “Judy” Miller, formerly of the New York Times. I saw in “The Beast” that she is listing as an achievement her winning the Pulitzer Prize. Ms. Miller won that once prestigious award for her disastrous misreporting about non-existent W.M.D. in Iraq which played a major role in selling our military juggernaut in Iraq to the U.S. people. It’s unclear whether she resigned from the Times by mutual agreement, whether she was fired, or given the option to resign in lieu of being fired. In any event, Ms. Miller has established herself as an ambitious and credulous shill for the military and certainly doesn’t deserve the Pulitzer or the confidence of readers. So, I will by-pass any story under her by-line because it arrives highly tainted and unworthy of serious consideration. This website is called “War in Context.” Let’s keep the origins of the second monstrous Iraq war in context by belling this cat. Ms. Miller cannot wash away the stench of her propaganda efforts on behalf of the notorious regime of George Bush and Dick Cheney. Please consider the bona fides of reporters before republishing their stories.

  2. uri

    com on “Ha’aretz, one of Israel’s leading dailies.” no body actoualy read this newspaper in israel! its a joke.

  3. jonathan

    steve. u r so wrong and u dont know israel . in israel u can say what u want!!!
    if 1 of the arabic pm would talk in the usa like they talk here he would go 2 jail
    if u want 2 c dark go 2 c what happends 2 people that say what on their mind in the “lightend cuntries like iran eygept saudi arabia cuba gaza jordan sirya lebanon
    so mind you’re thing and keep living in lala land

  4. hofit shay

    hi,
    im from israel, and i thank you for reviling this story, i put it in my facebook for everyone i know to see. keep doing what you do best, it become a really big noise here.

  5. Ami

    dear uri, we are one of many families which read haaretz which is not the other yellow papers that mainly deal with shopping, gossip and fashion.
    good that there is a paper which can encourage thinking and criticize what happens here!

  6. gil

    Dear all
    my name is Gili, from Tel-Aviv, Israel.
    Israel is a really democratic country, and we can say on public whatever we want (as long it does not harm any person nor its reputation).
    but this scandal is annoying.
    how come a censorship can stop the public from been involved in such a critical matter???

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