Growing Thought Control in Israel
[Illustration: Cracks are appearing in the wall. Yedioth Ahronoth, one of the most-read newspapers in Israel ran a piece on page 9 today, quoting Judith Miller’s article on the Kam-Blau affair. The article was of course censored by the government. In an unusual move Yedioth included the black blocks where the censor redacted text from the article. My colleagues in Bethlehem have seen the print edition of the paper and confirm that this picture is real, not photoshopped. (Jared Malsin)]
Since its 1948 establishment, IDF military censor authority banned or sanitized material potentially damaging to Israel's security. Thereafter, voluntary media/government agreements prevailed, all domestic and foreign news organizations abiding by censorship rulings.
Some are sensible like banning reports beneficial to adversaries. Others aren't by suppressing information the public has a right to know. For example, whatever affects their welfare and when officials commit crimes. In addition, various Supreme Court decisions limit content suppression to "tangible (or) near certain" instances of public endangerment. Of course, interpretations are crucial, authorities increasingly hardline to get their way.
It shows up in prohibited protests, free expression erosion against government policies, a booklet about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights because freedom of religion and asylum-seeker protection is included, suppressing nonviolent resistance, promoting patriotism over truth, attacking academic freedom, and sanitizing history among other ways, the latter issue addressed in an August 31 Haaretz editorial headlined, "Educating toward indoctrination," saying:
Frequent Education Ministry school curricula changes "share one common denominator....the same kind of crass, shallow patriotism that glosses over any complicated issue, forcing students to swallow the same rote, sanitized version of the multifaceted, paradoxical Israeli story (while) silenc(ing) all critical thought."