A Boycott of……

 Haaretz! Finally

Under a new directive introduced by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi on Sunday, the Israeli government will now boycott the liberal newspaper Haaretz. From now on, all government bodies and those funded by the state are under strict instruction not to contact Haaretz, or to publish announcements or advertisements in the paper.

The new policy has not been backed by a law passed in the Knesset; instead, it takes the form of a government resolution, whereby each minister has been ordered to boycott the paper and ensure that everyone in their department does the same.

Unusually, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara was not made aware of the proposal in advance, and did not examine or present an opinion on the resolution. Since the policy is technically advisory and does not legally prohibit government ministries from publishing in or contacting Haaretz, it is unlikely that the courts could uphold any legal challenges against the decision.

The exact cause of the decision is unknown, although it is widely believed to be in response to comments made by Amos Schocken, publisher of the newspaper, during a conference in London last month. Schocken referred to Palestinian militants as “freedom fighters”. He quickly walked back the remarks, and clarified that he was not referring to Hamas, but the damage was already done.

In his statement announcing the boycott on Sunday, Karhi argued that the paper had been “undermining the goals of the war” and “weakening the military effort and its social resilience”. But it seems that such a move has been under consideration for a while: last year, Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs worked on a draft resolution preventing the government advertising office from publishing in Haaretz, although it was never implemented.

Even though most government ministers had already independently announced that they would no longer cooperate with the newspaper, it is another development in the erosion of liberal norms in Israel, which was already underway before 7 October but which has gathered pace since.

https://unherd.com/newsroom/israels-haaretz-boycott-is-another-attack-on-liberal-norms/ . .