Ha’aretz Rewrites Knesset Bill to Outlaw Protests
A news brief in Ha’aretz yesterday shockingly claims that a Knesset bill “would ban anti-occupation protests.” The brief reads:
Several prominent local artists including poet Meir Wieseltier, singer Rona Kenan, actor Yossi Pollak and photographer Alex Levac have joined a campaign against a bill that would ban anti-occupation protests. The campaign, organized by the Coalition of Women for Peace, includes several short clips featuring the artists expressing their opposition to the bill. If the bill is passed, said Wieseltier, “The country will become a genuine repressive state, not just for those under occupation, but also for its citizens – even for Tel Avivians.” (Maya Sela )
What?! Israelis opposed to Israel’s presence in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem would be banned from organizing street protests? They would no longer be permitted to voice their opposition in the media or elsewhere, effectively shutting down Ha’aretz‘s opinion pages? Surely, if such a bill were in the works, it would be making top news headlines from Ha’aretz to the New York Times to Newsweek and the BBC. But it’s not. Because there is no such bill.
In fact, the so-called “bill that would ban anti-occupation protests” is more often referred to as the “boycott law.” As Jonathan Lis of Ha’aretz correctly reported two days before Sela’s sloppy and inciting item:
The Knesset plenum on Monday approved in its first reading a “boycott law,” which would levy harsh punitive fines on Israelis who call for academic or economic boycotts against Israeli institutions. . .
The draft law also calls for imposing sanctions against foreign nationals and organizations that call for anti-Israel boycotts, as well as against states that pass legislation giving such boycotts the force of law.
Elkin said prior to the vote that while in the United States it is considered illegal to boycott Israel – punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of $1 million – the Israeli legal system cannot punish an Israeli who urges an American company to boycott his own country.
More from SNAPSHOTS
Israeli Peace Offers, Palestinian Rock Throwing Are M.I.A in Post Report
July 26, 2018
A June 28, 2018 Washington Post report, “Prince William visit Jerusalem’s holy sites, concluding historic visit,” omitted key context and details about the Duke of Cambridge’s trip to Israel and areas controlled by the Palestinian [...]
Media Story About Ultra-Orthodox Responsibility for Lengthy El Al Delay Disputed
July 11, 2018
Israeli journalist Sivan Rahav Meir reports in The Times of Israel today ("That Ultra-Orthodox flight delay? It didn't happen") that media claims, based on a Facebook post by Israeli rapper Chen Rotem, that a group [...]
One Haaretz Page-One Sentence, Lots of Errors
July 11, 2018
One sentence in a page-one article of Haaretz's's English print edition yesterday packed in multiple errors. Headlined "Netanyahu: Israel to close commercial Gaza crossing over airborne firebombs," the article erred: Palestinians began flying the devices [...]
Media Largely Ignore Alleged Hamas Payment to Dead Baby’s Family
June 25, 2018
A New York Times caption which definitively claims that Layla Ghandour "fell ill after inhaling tear gas," despite the fact that the accompanying article itself acknowledges that the story involving tear gas was disputed Western [...]
PCUSA Stands By While Palestinian Activist Harassed by Extremist
June 20, 2018
Palestinian human rights activist Bassem Eid walks away from an aggressive and hostile “intersectionality” activist Bassem Masri outside the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s General Assembly taking place in St. Louis. (Screenshot from Twitter.) Palestinian human rights [...]
AFP Whitewashes Gaza’s Serial Arsonists as ‘Activists’
June 19, 2018
June 20 Update: Multiple Media Outlets Amend Captions Calling Gaza Arsonists 'Activists' Numerous Agence France-Presse photo captions in the last couple of days misidentify Gazans responsible for airborne arson attacks which destroyed 28,000 dunums of [...]
Newsweek Headline Fail on Israeli Attacks in Syria
June 18, 2018
A grossly misleading Newsweek headline ("Israel Bombs Syria to Stop Refugees Fleeing to Europe, Netanyahu Says," June 14) falsely suggests that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel is bombing Syria in order to [...]