IP: Israel,Arutz 7 and the Internet

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1999 14:58:57 -0500
> To: farber () cis upenn edu
> From: Richard Mandelbaum <rma () appliedtheory com>
>
>
> Dave, I think the attached should be of interst both to you and many other
> readers of the IP list.
> This is an almost classic example of a government , that of Israel, and the
> State Prosecutors Office attempting to close down sources of information
> which they disagree with.
>
> The state prosecutuon office is annoyed with Arutz-7 for publishing a
> transcript of a conversation between the Prosecution Office and the Israel
> Security Services which showed complicity between the two in a cover up of
> the activities of a Security Services agent provacateur.
>
> The current Israeli government ,which essentially controls all of the print
> and broadcast media in Israel is very unhappy at the existence of a channel
> of alternative news. This is primarily an Internet channel and the raid on
> the  Beit-El Studios which have primary responsibility for Internet based
> content distribution as a way to stop, recently legalized,  spectrum-based
> broadcasts from a ship at sea would be almost ludicrous if it were not so
> scary.
>
> Dave, I have been very much involved with the Internet in Israel for about
> 15 years, providing the Israel University Consortium with its first
> Internet connection to the US in the late 80's and helping the Israel
> Foreign Ministry get onto to the Internet about 8-9 years ago.
> What is happening there as regards the ability to propagate information
> which disagrees with the government line is truly shocking
>
> Best Regards
>
> Richard
>
>
>
> > X-Sender: neteditor () mail a7 org
> > Date: Tue, 28 Dec 1999 18:49:31 +0200
> > To: arutz-7 () ArutzSheva org
> > From: Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor () ArutzSheva org>
> > Subject: Arutz-7 news: Tuesday, December 28, 1999
> > Mime-Version: 1.0
> > X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by rina.torah.org id
> > LAA09248
> > Sender: owner-arutz-7 () a7 org
> > Precedence: bulk
> > Reply-To: netnews () a7 org
>
> > TODAY'S HEADLINES:
> >  1. POLICE RAID ARUTZ-7
> >  2. REACTIONS
> >  3. RALLY TONIGHT
>
> > 1. POLICE RAID ARUTZ-7
> > Hundreds of policemen stormed Arutz-7's offices and studios in Beit El at
> > 9:30 this morning, in an attempt to shut down the broadcasts and confiscate
> > the station's equipment.  For over two hours, the police wrenched out
> > soundboard consoles, computers, and other equipment, leaving extensive
> > damage in their wake.  They deposited these at the front entrance to the
> > station, but did not attempt to transfer them to their waiting vans, as
> > close to 1,000 residents of Beit El and other communities had gathered on
> > the narrow street outside.  The crowd, including many dozens of students of
> > the nearby schools and yeshivot, intermittently sang, danced, and shouted
> > "Police State!"
> >
> > Arutz-7 technicians continue to work intensively to appraise and repair the
> > damage caused to doors, computers, broadcast consoles, and wiring.  All of
> > the internet department's computers were operating within 4-5 hours after
> > the raid, and the live internet broadcast of Arutz-7 was back on the air by
> > 1 PM.  The police were unable, despite repeated attempts, to break down the
> > doors of one of the station's floors, containing a make-shift studio.
> > Regular broadcasts continue from that studio; of the four damaged ones,
> > highest priority will be given to repairing the Russian-language studio.
> > During the course of the raid, Internet Director Baruch Gordon was lightly
> > injured, requiring eight stitches in his hand, and student Aharon Amram of
> > N'vei Tzuf had his hand broken.
> >
> > Communications Ministry representative Chanan Golan, who was present during
> > the police action today, told Arutz-7 broadcasters that the raid was
> > initiated not by his office, but by the State Prosecution and the
> > Attorney-General.  Jerusalem Magistrates Court Justice Rafael Yaakobi
> > signed the court order, after approving the State Prosecution's request for
> > the warrant.  When the police showed the search-and-confiscation court
> > orders this morning, Arutz-7 management explained that these were based on
> > false information, and that the Knesset had passed legislation almost a
> > year ago permitting the station to broadcast.
> >
> > Some two hours after the raid began, Samaria and Judea Police District
> > Commander Yitzchak Aharonovitch arrived on the scene.  After meeting with
> > Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed - the station's Chairman of the Board and Rosh
> > Yeshivat Beit El - Aharonovitch announced the sudden end of the police
> > operation.  At approximately 11:45 AM, Rabbi Melamed used a megaphone to
> > inform the crowd gathered outside, "The police are trying to do their work
> > honorably, but we have a problem with the Communications Ministry.   We
> > have come to an agreement, and the equipment is all staying here.  Please
> > permit the policemen to leave here with honor."
> >
> > Yaakov (Ketzaleh) Katz, speaking on Arutz-7's newsmagazine today, said:
> >       "Police Commander Aharonovitch is a smart man, and after a short
> > time he
> > realized that he was sorely misled.  He saw that there are no transmitters
> > here - even though we are allowed to have them here and use them - but he
> > found nothing of the sort...
> >       "I think that what happened here today is a mark of shame for Prime
> > Minister Barak and for Public Security Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, who claims
> > to be a man of democracy - but what happened here was not democracy, but
> > dictatorship, pure and simple... In the end, with the help of G-d, they
> > finally left, and apologized, and it was agreed that they would say that
> > they had succeeded in stopping the broadcasts - even though the broadcasts
> > continued throughout, because we simply phoned over to the ship.  Their
> > claim that we are an illegal station is simply not true, especially after
> > the passing of the Arutz-7 law in the Knesset, and that's why Beilin and
> > Communications Ministry officials are making intense efforts to pass a
> > different law..."
> >
> > Ketzaleh announced that following the tremendous financial damages caused
> > the station by the police violence, Arutz-7 will hold a marathon
> > fund-raising broadcast this coming Thursday and Friday.  Outpourings of
> > support, via phone calls, faxes, and e-mails, have already been received at
> > Arutz-7.
> >
> > An excerpt from Aharonovitch's hastily-called press conference:
> > "The warrant was issued at the request of the Communications Ministry, and
> > we were simply carrying out this order.  We have fulfilled our mission of
> > stopping the station's broadcasts, and we are therefore leaving."
> > Reporter: "But listen, you can hear the broadcasts on the radio right now -
> > the antennas are not here, they are on the ship.  Arutz-7 is still
> > broadcasting."
> > Aharonovitch:  "Our mission was to stop the broadcasts here in Beit El.  If
> > they have other channels, this is not my problem."  [The afternoon
> > newsmagazine was broadcast from Beit El as usual, from the lone operative
> > make-shift studio, at 1 PM.]
> >
> > Veteran Arutz-7 broadcaster Adir Zik spoke to the hundreds of Beit El
> > residents and students who came to show their support of the station this
> > morning.  After a rousing round of his show's theme song, "You Won't Defeat
> > Me So Quickly," the crowd settled down to hear his speech.  Excerpts:
> >       "When I used to remark that the State of Israel is turning into a
> > Bolshevik state, I was called 'radical and extreme...' - but here we
> > plainly see that with a court order one morning, the police can just come
> > in and raid Arutz-7.  Make no mistake about it: This is a struggle for the
> > future of this land! They are simply trying to shut our mouths!...  Truth
> > has tremendous strength, and try as they might, they cannot vanquish our
> > faith.  The age of internet and instant communications has arrived, and
> > Arutz-7's Kobi Sela has just broadcast a news report [via] the ship in the
> > middle of the Mediterranean [in the midst of the police attempts to shut
> > down the station]...  Don't think for a moment that this is a legal issue.
> > It's intimately connected to the political goings-on at present. They are
> > simply trying to shut us up."  Zik later said, "Arutz-7 has been
> > responsible for a revolution in its media message and in its success at
> > disseminating Torah in Israel and throughout the world.  It is part of a
> > wider society that sends its daughters to Sherut Leumi (National Service)
> > and its sons to the top IDF combat units, of people who have been able to
> > live a completely observant life while fully participating in modern
> > society.  This is the deeper level of the conflict:  Because of the high
> > quality of Arutz-7's news and other programming, because we insist on fully
> > participating in the society - this has the establishment, the media, and
> > the political establishment eating its heart out."
> >
> > Reporters from Israeli television stations were at the scene.  They
> > protested the fact that they were not allowed to enter the building, and a
> > Channel Two reporter said, "I access Arutz-7's internet site every day for
> > scoops.  It's important to make this information and these pictures
> > available to the public, to see what the police came and did here!"
> >
> > 2. REACTIONS
> > Deputy Minister of Education Sha'ul Yahalom said that there is no iota of
> > truth to the police allegations that Arutz-7's broadcasts ever disturbed
> > airport radio transmissions.  Yahalom, speaking as a former Minister of
> > Transportation, was reacting to statements by Police Investigations Chief
> > Supt. Yossi Sitbon, who said that the police raid was carried out because
> > of such disturbances.
> >
> > MK Rabbi Benny Elon (National Union), a resident of Beit El, who was also
> > on the scene together with party colleague and leading Arutz-7 proponent MK
> > Tzvi Hendel, said, "The truth is that I think the police were led astray by
> > Chanan Golan of the Communications Ministry and Attorney-General Elyakim
> > Rubenstein, who have an obsession [with Arutz-7]."
> >
> > MK Rabbi Chaim Druckman (NRP) said, "The police raid on Arutz-7 is an
> > anti-democratic scandal, an attempt to shut the mouths of the nationalist
> > camp, the likes of which is only seen in the darkest regimes."  He
> > recommended that his party, which reached a budget agreement with the
> > government only two days ago, vote against the budget in protest of the
> > raid.  Other NRP Knesset Members said that the raid was an attempt to
> > silence those who object to a withdrawal from the Golan Heights.
> >
> > MK Uzi Landau (Likud):  "This raid was a manifestation of State Prosecution
> > violence."  MK David Azulai (Shas):  "This is a leftist government that
> > will do anything to shut mouths."
> >
> > The Yesha Council announced that the Ehud Barak government is defiling the
> > rule of law via the shutting of its political opponents' mouth.  Professors
> > for a Strong Israel called upon the government to cease its anti-democratic
> > actions.
> >
> > Atty. Mordechai Haller:
> > "There is a general principle that when a legislature legalizes a certain
> > behavior, all legal prosecution against this behavior is halted, and new
> > proceedings against it are certainly not begun.  The Attorney-General
> > simply decides that it is not in the public interest to prosecute these
> > matters... In this case, the legislature has passed a law legalizing
> > Arutz-7; the law has not gone into effect yet, though, such that this is a
> > classic case in which the Attorney-General would normally exercise his
> > discretion not to prosecute...  All the above concerns the radio.  But the
> > internet department has absolutely nothing to do with this.  The
> > publication of internet news is no different than any other completely
> > legal behavior by Arutz-7 staff, such as preparing a cup of coffee.  If an
> > Arutz-7 employee prepares a cup of coffee, the police cannot come and
> > arrest him - just like they cannot do so for the equally-innocent act of
> > sending news over the internet...  If a judge gave a ruling to confiscate
> > all the equipment in a building used for allegedly illegal broadcasts, when
> > the police knew perfectly well that some of the equipment is not used for
> > broadcasts at all, then that order should never have been given…  I think
> > it's shocking that a judge would give an order that was so sweeping... I
> > think the police probably misled the judge in that they did not give him
> > the full picture…"
> >
> > Yisrael Medad, head of Israel's Media Watch:
> > "I think that this raid was a very foolish move that puts Mr. Barak on the
> > defensive, because he can be seen as approaching dictatorship.  We know
> > that during the previous Labor administration of Mr. Rabin, some moves on
> > his part led him to being perceived as someone not interested in the rule
> > of law and citizens' democratic rights to express themselves...  I think
> > that Arutz-7 represents a very strong body politic, an important
> > representative of a major cultural and religious element in Israeli 
> society."
> > 3. RALLY TONIGHT
> > Women in Green announced a rally for this evening, in protest of the raid
> > on Arutz-7.  "In an attempt to assure approval by the voting public in the
> > upcoming referendum on whatever Golan Agreement is reached with Syria," the
> > organization announced, "Prime Minister Barak ruthlessly moved this morning
> > to close down the only effective opposing media source to his policies,
> > Arutz-7 Radio...  Arutz-7 has had free and open discussion, informing the
> > public of Barak's subservience to Clinton, and the many faults and failures
> > of his policies..."  The rally will be held at 7:30 PM opposite the Yakar
> > educational institute at 10 HaLamed-He St. in Jerusalem, where Atty.-Gen.
> > Elyakim Rubenstein is scheduled to speak on "Law and Democracy."
> >
> > Readers who would like to send their comments on today's events to various
> > public figures are invited to find their fax numbers and e-mail addresses at
> > <http//www.arutzsheva.org/English/newspaper/ondisplay/ref/faxes.htm>.
>
> ==============================================================
> Richard Mandelbaum                      Tel:  516.466.8422 ext. 224
> President & CEO                 Fax:  516.466.8650
> AppliedTheory Communications Inc.       http://www.appliedtheory.com
>
> 40 Cutter Mill Road Suite 405
> GreatNeck NY 11021
> ==============================================================


******************

A Happy Holiday and a safe New Year

from Dave and GG Farber

******************