Are Right-Wing Journalists “Militants”?
A few days ago, Snapshots’ DP faulted the Chicago Tribune for labeling protestors who block roads as “militants.” (See “Are Protestors ‘Militants’?”) Today, reporters from the Israeli daily Ha’aretz have broadened that by now meaningless label to include. . . (drumroll please). . . journalists.
Not just any journalists, of course, and, heaven forbid, certainly not Ha’aretz journalists. Just right-wing journalists.
In a news report today, reporters Lily Galili and Jonathan Lis describe the arrest of Vitaly Wovnovoy, suspected of being the web master of a right-wing Web site which reportedly published instructions on blocking roads.
Galili and Lis report:
This isn’t the first time the Wovnovoys have made the headlines as a militant family. In the past, Anatov [Vitaly’s wife] was the one who made the news, as a well-known journalist and writer among the Russian-speaking right-wing circles in Israel. She was a leading activist in Moshe Feiglin’s camp in the Likud and was named as a candidate on his behalf in the last Knesset elections. After the ballot, when Ariel Sharon decided to focus his efforts on the immigrant community, Anatov became a member of the Likud Russian-language newspaper’s editorial staff.
Some six months ago, the couple again hit the headlines when their son became the first soldier to be ejected from an officers’ course after stating in a discussion with his commanders that he intended to refuse to take part in the evacuation of settlements. The parents then embarked on an ideological campaign in their son’s name.
So, according to Ha’aretz‘s calculation, being a journalist in right-wing circles and backing a decision to NOT take part in a military mission makes you a “militant.”
This doesn’t really come as any surprise, since Ha’aretz has already let slip that it considers those who oppose the disengagement plan—more than a third of the Israeli population—”extremists.”
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