Slippery Slope

According to the editor of The Jerusalem Post, Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu told him that Israel’s two greatest enemies are The New York Times and Haaretz (left wing daily).

Blogger Yossi Gurvitz was questioned by the police two weeks ago on suspicion of inciting violence, following a decision by deputy state prosecutor for special procedures, Attorney Shay Nitzan, after right-wing organization “The Legal Forum for the Land of Israel” filed a complaint in August.  Even though the case has been publicized in the media, the police is preventing Gurvitz from providing details on the investigation.

Five months after photo journalist Mati Milstein filed a complaint about soldiers firing tear gas directly at journalists during a demonstration in the Palestinian village of Nabi Saleh, Lieutenant Colonel Avital Leibovich, IDF spokesperson to the international press, has issued a response to the complaint.  According to Leibovich, “journalists who enter areas in which there is consistent violent and illegal disorder such as at Nabi Saleh – the responsibility is theirs, as is accepted in other areas of conflict around the world.”  Leibovich further claimed that there was no news value to the coverage of the Nabi Saleh demonstrations.

(Hebrew)

The Israeli Broadcast Authority (IBA) published an internal bid to appoint a new director for Reshet Bet, currently headed by Motti Amir. Amir is considered an opponent of Miki Miro, head of the Radio division of the IBA. The two clashed on multiple issues, among them an attempt by Miro to cancel extensive coverage of the J14 protests.

(Hebrew)

Journalist Keren Neubach was ousted from hosting the TV programme “Second Glance” on Channel 1. In addition, Mirit Hushmand, who is the producer of Neubach’s Monday radio show “Agenda”,  on radio channel Bet, was summoned for a hearing before dismissal.

(Hebrew)

Gonen Ginat, deputy editor of [free daily] Israel Hayom, wrote that there are no human beings in the Gaza Strip. According to him, this is not racism but fact: “Only those who do are not part of the human race celebrate the release of those who bomb children. Only those who are not human beings dance in the streets and greet with shrieks of happiness those who quite simply slaughtered humans. This is not racism but a fact: only those who are not human beings hand out candy to passers-by in order to celebrate the return of murderers to their streets.”

(Hebrew)

MK Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) proposed a bill according to which all neighborhoods in Jerusalem will be referred to strictly by Hebrew names in official documents, civic signs, and official press and media.

Hebrew

Spokesperson for the Police Sharon district, Major Shlomo Jorano, noted in a press statement yesterday that “a man in Tira was shot and slightly injured in his lower body from several bullets”. In court, however, during a hearing for extending the arrest of the suspect in the shooting, it became apparent that in the same event several people were in fact badly injured, and have had to undergo surgery. Even after the details of the event had been uncovered in court, the Sharon district press office preferred to stick to its original press announcement.

(Hebrew)

The journalist Dov Gilhar and two other Channel 10 employees were arrested in a demonstration opposite the residence of Nir Barkat, the Mayor of Jerusalem. The police reported that the three initiated an illegal demonstration of about 20 people, protesting the “discriminatory behavior of the police”.

(Hebrew source link no longer available)

Avishay Braverman, Minister for Minority Affairs, claimed at a Labor Party meeting that he had been muzzled after media was removed from the meeting immediately after the speech by party chair and Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak, and before Braverman’s speech. (Hebrew)