The Amira Hass Tragedy




To all CRAP members and sympathizers,

Shalom Chaverim!

With a heavy heart I post this web page. A very unfortunate event has occurred which may have implications for the entire enlightened public.

The Libel Case That Was Lost

Please read the following news item carefully from the abominable Arutz 7 web site:

Jun-07-01, 16 Sivan 5761

Court Recognizes Ha'aretz Slander Of Hevron Jews

(IsraelNationalNews.com) The Hevron Jewish Community sued Ha'aretz newspaper - and won! Ha'aretz staffer Amira Hass, a Jewish resident of Ramallah, wrote several months ago that the residents of Beit Hadassah in Hevron abused the corpse of a terrorist. She wrote that the residents kicked, spat on, and danced atop the body of a dead Arab terrorist, who had just been shot and killed by soldiers shortly after he threw a grenade at them. The plaintiffs cited an announcement by the IDF spokesman at the time asserting that the Jewish residents did not abuse the body in any manner. The Hevron residents demanded an apology, which Ha'aretz did not provide. They then sued the paper for 250,000 shekels, and Ha'aretz did not even submit a defense. Yesterday, Hon. Shalev Gertel awarded the full sum to the Hevron community, in addition to 20,000 shekels for legal expenses.

Hevron spokesman David Wilder told Arutz-7 today, "This ruling should have some kind of effect on the way the public looks at Ha'aretz. People who perhaps are unaware of its prejudices, should be aware of the fact that an Israeli court has ruled against a major Israeli daily publication." Another spokesman, Moshe Ben-Zimra, said if the money ever comes - "Ha'aretz will certainly appeal" - it will be used for the continued building of the Jewish Community of Hevron.

A Blow To The Entire Enlightened Public

This judgement is no doubt a blow to the reputation of Amira Hass, world renowned for her tear-jerking reports about the poor Arabs living under the cruel post-Zionist occupation. There is is no doubt that this is a blow to the reputation of Ha'aretz. But chaverim, this is not just a matter for Ms. Hass and Ha'aretz! This is a blow to the entire enlightened public and to our way of life. Since when has it become forbidden to libel the enemies of peace in general and The Hebron Jewish Community in particular? Who does this Hon. Shalev Gertel guy think he is?

Ammunition For The Enemies Of Peace

The enlightened Israeli media did a good job of sweeping this news item under the rug. But the the enemies of peace predictably seized upon this item as one "who has found much booty." In an article entitled 'Ha'aretz:' The lie of the land, which appeared in the July 15, 2001 of the Jerusalem Post on-line, Andrea Levin( the president and executive director of the so called "Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America") exploited our misfortune:
Although Ha'aretz bills itself as "an independent newspaper with a broadly liberal outlook," many of the opinion writers and some reporters espouse views of the extreme far left, and factual accuracy is often sacrificed to their political predilections.

Reporter Amira Hass, for example, has recently been ordered by the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court to pay NIS 250,000 in damages to the Jewish community of Beit Hadassah in Hebron for her false report that Jewish residents there had abused the corpse of an Arab shot dead by the Border Police during a hot pursuit. The allegations were disproved by multiple televised accounts of the event.

The same reporter's stories, replete with distorted and inaccurate charges that Israel is an "apartheid" state, steals Palestinian water, callously targets Palestinians over the age of 12 with sniper fire, and generally subjugates Arabs out of sheer viciousness, are posted on hundreds of anti-Israel Web sites. So also is the commentary of a number of Ha'aretz writers, in the company of other favorites of such Web sites like Noam Chomsky, Hanan Ashrawi, and Edward Said ...
If this were not enough Ms. Levin adds the following:
Another Israeli journalist at a different newspaper, Nahum Barnea of Yediot Aharonot, wrote in November of 2000 that there are Israeli reporters who do not pass the "lynching test." These are journalists who could not bring themselves to criticize the Palestinians even when two Israelis were savagely murdered by a Palestinian mob in Ramallah. Which journalists? Gideon Levy, Amira Hass, and Akiva Eldar of Ha'aretz. Barnea wrote: "And then the lynching test came, and before it the test of the shooting and fire bombs of the Tanzim fighters, and before it the test of the violations of the Oslo Agreement by Arafat, and it turns out that the support of some of the prominent reporters [for Palestinian positions] is absolute. ...They have a mission."
Is it not chutzpah to use a quote from the enlightened Nahum Barnea against our holy Ha'aretz newspaper and its pious reporters?

We Will Not Forgive And We Will Not Forget!

Most troubling is the behaviour of Ha'aretz in this whole episode. Why didn't they submit a defense in court? Why did they give the enemies of peace a reason to rejoice? Now Amira's name is being trampled upon like dung in a cowshed! Why has Amira Hass, wounded in the battlefield of democracy and enlightenment, been abandoned? Ha'aretz owes the enlightened public answers! Send an email to Ha'aretz and demand an explanation! And don't let them tell you shtuyot!



Wishing you all the traditional Shalom Chaver blessing,

Rev. CaRl APpelbaum, President for Life of The Church of Rabin And Peace


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Copyright 2001 by The Church of Rabin And Peace.  All rights reserved.