uri blau

Israeli soldiers arrest a Palestinian journalist during clashes near the illegal West Bank outpost of Adei Ad. (Activestills.org)

‘Partly free’? The real state of Israeli press freedom is much worse

Freedom House has downgraded its ranking of Israel’s media from ‘free’ to ‘partly free,’ citing closer ties to the government and a spike in paid media content. But it has one flagrant omission: Israel’s poor treatment of Palestinian journalists. By Lisa Goldman Freedom House, the U.S.-based watchdog NGO that reports on the state of civil…

By Lisa Goldman April 28, 2016

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and German Chancellor Merkel at a joint press conference in Berlin, February 16, 2016. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)

Fact-checking Netanyahu: A week full of truthiness

From surreal exaggerations to outright lies, Netanyahu dished up another batch of nonsense utterings to a foreign audience in Berlin this week. We picked three of the best and broke them down for you. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has something of a track record of saving his most nonsensical and demonstrably false statements for foreign…

By Natasha Roth-Rowland February 17, 2016

Ben Zygier, alleged Mossad Agent who was found dead in his cell in 2010 (photo: ABC Australia)

Press freedom in Israel: Democracy in the age of self-censorship

More worrying than the institutional instruments that enable censorship are the multiple forms of self-censorship that are deeply ingrained in the journalistic practices and conventions of Israeli media. By Ido Liven As the Hebrew proverb goes, “be a tail among lions rather than a head among foxes.” In Freedom House’s latest report, Israel’s state of press…

By +972 Magazine May 7, 2013

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Former Mossad head Meir Dagan (R) with former IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi (L) (Photo: Israel Defense Forces, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

‘Prisoner X’ and the security elite’s unchecked power

Recent actions taken by the heads of the army, Mossad and the internal security service (Shin Bet) reveal the Israeli security establishment’s unsupervised power, and the way it directs that power at the country’s own citizens and elected officials. These are the main details which have been made public in the affair of Ben Zygier,…

By Noam Sheizaf February 18, 2013

Journalist Uri Blau to stand trial for holding leaked documents

Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein announced on Wednesday his intention to indict Uri Blau, one of Israel’s top investigative reporters, for possession of classified materials without permission. The materials in question are documents given to Blau by whistleblower Anat Kamm; Kamm, then a conscript clerk in the office of GOC Central Command, copied them from the…

By Dimi Reider May 30, 2012

DimiReider, DimiR

WATCH: New York Times and Al Jazeera commentary on Anat Kamm

I have a brief op-ed up on the New York Times and in today’s International Herald Tribune, discussing the repercussions of Anat Kamm’s sentence. One of the things I wanted to highlight is the highly disturbing insinuation reflected in the decision to prosecute Kamm on the charges of espionage. Does that mean that informing the public…

By Dimi Reider November 2, 2011

Condemnation of Kamm post-sentencing reflects country’s mood

Talkbackers call Anat Kamm, who was sentenced to four and a half years jail time and 18 months’ probation, a “traitor” and say she should spend life in prison, reflecting Israel’s march to the right. And though it seems as though Kamm’s case has come to a close, questions remain. Sunday morning, Anat Kamm—the former…

By Mya Guarnieri Jaradat October 30, 2011

Court sentences IDF whistleblower Anat Kamm to 4.5 years

This post has been updated. The Tel Aviv District court has sentenced Anat Kamm to four and a half years in prison. The sentence writes the final line in a campaign of scapegoating that has already caused deep and lasting damage to independent Israeli journalism. Anat Kamm, the journalist who leaked over a thousands pages…

By Dimi Reider October 29, 2011

Anat Kamm, Tel Aviv District Court (photo: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

TIMELINE: The Anat Kamm affair

In the spring of 2010, it emerged that a young journalist had been under house arrest for several months for leaking documents that led to the publication of an investigative report on IDF misconduct. Thanks to an unprecedented media blackout, the case made headlines around the world. Anat Kamm, who was originally sentenced to four-and-a-half…

By Noa Yachot October 28, 2011

URGENT: Journalists’ petition against the prosecution of Uri Blau

[Please scroll down for the actual petition – everything preceding it is my own commentary]. Earlier this week, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein informed Haaretz reporter Uri Blau he will hold a hearing for him at the end of the month, to decide whether to put him on trial. This step would have disastrous ramifications for…

By Dimi Reider May 7, 2011

Israeli Wikileaks: Journalists demand not to try Haaretz reporter

Israel’s Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein has summoned Haaretz journalist Uri Blau to a formal hearing – the last procedural step before prosecuting Blau in a criminal court. The 7th eye website reports [Hebrew] that the hearing will take place towards the end of the month. Last March, The Tel Aviv Office for the General Prosecution…

By Noam Sheizaf May 3, 2011

Sportscaster suspended for empathizing with whistleblower

On Saturday night, veteran broadcaster Yoram Arbel (one of Israel top sports show hosts and longtime host of Who Wants to be a Millionaire) made the following remark during an Israel-Latvia game. “An Israeli girl who’s done something horrible, even worse than that, has been sitting locked up at home for a year, under an…

By Dimi Reider March 27, 2011

Israel’s Wikileaks: Was plea bargain a trap for Haaretz reporter?

(updated below) In the hail of news report on the escalation on the Israel-Gaza front and the Jerusalem bombing, a key development has gone all but unnoticed by world media. On Thursday, Haaretz reported “with regret” that the Justice Ministry decided to charge one of the paper’s star reporters, Uri Blau, with “holding classified information…

By Dimi Reider March 26, 2011