19 apr 2010
Did banned media report foretell of Gaza war crimes?
By Jonathan Cook in Nazareth
A Palestinian member of the Israeli parliament is demanding that a newspaper be allowed to publish an investigative report that was suppressed days before Israel attacked Gaza in winter 2008.
The investigation by Uri Blau, who has been in hiding since December to avoid arrest, concerned Israeli preparations for the impending assault on Gaza, known as Operation Cast Lead.
In a highly unusual move, according to reports in the Israeli media, the army ordered the Haaretz newspaper to destroy all copies of an edition that included Blau’s investigation after it had already gone to press and been passed by the military censor. The article was never republished.
Blau has gone underground in London after the Shin Bet, Israel’s secret police, demanded he return to Israel to hand back hundreds of classified documents they claim are in his possession and to reveal his sources.
He published several additional reports for Haaretz in 2008 and 2009 that severely embarrassed senior military commanders by showing they had issued orders that intentionally violated court rulings, including to execute Palestinians who could be safely apprehended.
Haneen Zoubi, an MK who previously headed an Israeli media-monitoring organization, said it was “outrageous” that the suppressed report was still secret so long after the Gaza attack. She is to table a parliamentary question to Ehud Barak, the defense minister, today demanding to know why the army suppressed the article and what is preventing its publication now. Barak must respond within 21 days.
She said publication of the article was important both because Israel had been widely criticized for killing many hundreds of civilians in its three-week assault on Gaza, and because subsequent reports suggested that Israeli commanders sought legal advice months before the operation to manipulate the accepted definitions of international law to make it easier to target civilians.
“There must be at least a strong suspicion that Blau’s article contains vital information, based on military documentation, warning of Israeli army intentions to commit war crimes,” she said in an interview.
“If so, then there is a public duty on Haaretz to publish the article. If not, then there is no reason for the minister to prevent publication after all this time.”
Zoubi’s call yesterday followed mounting public criticism of Haaretz for supporting Blau by advising him to stay in hiding and continuing to pay his salary. In chat forums and talkback columns, the reporter has been widely denounced as a traitor. Several MKs have called for Haaretz to be closed down or boycotted.
A Haaretz spokeswoman refused to comment, but a journalist there said a “fortress mentality” had developed at the newspaper. “We’ve all been told not to talk to anyone about the case,” he said. “There’s absolute paranoia that the paper is going to be made to suffer because of the Blau case.”
Amal Jamal, a professor at Tel Aviv University who teaches a media course, said he was concerned with the timing of the Shin Bet’s campaign against Blau. He observed that they began interviewing the reporter about his sources and documents last summer as publication neared of the Goldstone report, commissioned by the United Nations and which embarrassed Israel by alleging it had perpetrated war crimes in Gaza.
“The goal in this case appears to be not only to intimidate journalists but also to delegitimize certain kinds of investigations concerning security issues, given the new climate of sensitivity in Israel following the Goldstone report.”
He added that Blau, who had quickly acquired a reputation as Israel’s best investigative reporter, was “probably finished” as a journalist in Israel.
Shraga Elam, an award-winning Israeli reporter, said Blau’s suppressed article might also have revealed the aims of a widely mentioned but unspecified “third phase” of the Gaza attack, following the initial air strikes and a limited ground invasion, that was not implemented.
He suspected the plans involved pushing some of Gaza’s population into Egypt under cover of a more extensive ground invasion. The plan had been foiled, he believed, because Hamas offered little resistance and Egypt refused to open the border.
On Monday, an MK with the centrist Kadima Party, Yulia Shamal-Berkovich, called for Haaretz to be closed down, backing a similar demand from fellow MK Michael Ben-Ari, of the right-wing National Union.
She accused Haaretz management of having “chosen to hide” over the case and blamed it for advising Blau to remain abroad. She said the newspaper “must make sure the materials that are in his possession are returned. If Haaretz fails to do so, its newspaper license should be revoked without delay.”
Another Kadima MK, Yisrael Hasson, a former deputy head of the Shin Bet, this week urged Haaretz readers to boycott the newspaper until Blau was fired.
A petition calling on the Shin Bet to end its threat to charge Blau with espionage has attracted the signatures of several prominent journalists in Israel.
“We believe the Blau case is unique and are concerned this unique case will create a dangerous precedent,” their letter states. “Until now, prosecution authorities have not sought to try reporters for the offence of holding classified information, an offence most of us are guilty of in one way or another.”
A group of Israeli human rights organizations is due to submit a letter this week to the government demanding that the investigation concentrate on lawbreaking by the army rather the “character assassination” of Blau and his sources.
Yesterday, the supreme court tightened restrictions on Anat Kamm, one of Blau’s main informants, who has been under house arrest since December for copying up to 2,000 military documents while she was a soldier. She is accused of espionage with intent to harm the state, a charge that carries a tariff of 25 years in jail.
The papers copied by Kamm, 23, included military orders that violated court rulings and justified law-breaking by soldiers.
Judge Ayala Procaccia said: “The acts attributed to the respondent point to a deep internal distorted perception of a soldier's duties to the military system he or she is required to serve, and a serious perversion from the basic responsibility that a citizen owes the state to which he or she belongs.”
Kamm, the court decided, must not leave her apartment and must be watched by a close relative at all times.
Media coverage of the case in Israel has been largely hostile to both Kamm and Blau. Gideon Levy observed in Haaretz today: “The real betrayal has been that of the journalists, who have betrayed their profession -- journalists who take sides with the security apparatus against colleagues who are doing their job bringing light to the dark.”
Calling Israel "a Shin Bet state," Levy added: “If it depended on public opinion, Kamm and Blau would be executed and Haaretz would be shut down on the spot.”
Jonathan Cook is a writer and journalist based in Nazareth, Israel. A version of this article originally appeared in The National, printed in Abu Dhabi. It is republished here with the author's permission.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=277725
Did banned media report foretell of Gaza war crimes?
By Jonathan Cook in Nazareth
A Palestinian member of the Israeli parliament is demanding that a newspaper be allowed to publish an investigative report that was suppressed days before Israel attacked Gaza in winter 2008.
The investigation by Uri Blau, who has been in hiding since December to avoid arrest, concerned Israeli preparations for the impending assault on Gaza, known as Operation Cast Lead.
In a highly unusual move, according to reports in the Israeli media, the army ordered the Haaretz newspaper to destroy all copies of an edition that included Blau’s investigation after it had already gone to press and been passed by the military censor. The article was never republished.
Blau has gone underground in London after the Shin Bet, Israel’s secret police, demanded he return to Israel to hand back hundreds of classified documents they claim are in his possession and to reveal his sources.
He published several additional reports for Haaretz in 2008 and 2009 that severely embarrassed senior military commanders by showing they had issued orders that intentionally violated court rulings, including to execute Palestinians who could be safely apprehended.
Haneen Zoubi, an MK who previously headed an Israeli media-monitoring organization, said it was “outrageous” that the suppressed report was still secret so long after the Gaza attack. She is to table a parliamentary question to Ehud Barak, the defense minister, today demanding to know why the army suppressed the article and what is preventing its publication now. Barak must respond within 21 days.
She said publication of the article was important both because Israel had been widely criticized for killing many hundreds of civilians in its three-week assault on Gaza, and because subsequent reports suggested that Israeli commanders sought legal advice months before the operation to manipulate the accepted definitions of international law to make it easier to target civilians.
“There must be at least a strong suspicion that Blau’s article contains vital information, based on military documentation, warning of Israeli army intentions to commit war crimes,” she said in an interview.
“If so, then there is a public duty on Haaretz to publish the article. If not, then there is no reason for the minister to prevent publication after all this time.”
Zoubi’s call yesterday followed mounting public criticism of Haaretz for supporting Blau by advising him to stay in hiding and continuing to pay his salary. In chat forums and talkback columns, the reporter has been widely denounced as a traitor. Several MKs have called for Haaretz to be closed down or boycotted.
A Haaretz spokeswoman refused to comment, but a journalist there said a “fortress mentality” had developed at the newspaper. “We’ve all been told not to talk to anyone about the case,” he said. “There’s absolute paranoia that the paper is going to be made to suffer because of the Blau case.”
Amal Jamal, a professor at Tel Aviv University who teaches a media course, said he was concerned with the timing of the Shin Bet’s campaign against Blau. He observed that they began interviewing the reporter about his sources and documents last summer as publication neared of the Goldstone report, commissioned by the United Nations and which embarrassed Israel by alleging it had perpetrated war crimes in Gaza.
“The goal in this case appears to be not only to intimidate journalists but also to delegitimize certain kinds of investigations concerning security issues, given the new climate of sensitivity in Israel following the Goldstone report.”
He added that Blau, who had quickly acquired a reputation as Israel’s best investigative reporter, was “probably finished” as a journalist in Israel.
Shraga Elam, an award-winning Israeli reporter, said Blau’s suppressed article might also have revealed the aims of a widely mentioned but unspecified “third phase” of the Gaza attack, following the initial air strikes and a limited ground invasion, that was not implemented.
He suspected the plans involved pushing some of Gaza’s population into Egypt under cover of a more extensive ground invasion. The plan had been foiled, he believed, because Hamas offered little resistance and Egypt refused to open the border.
On Monday, an MK with the centrist Kadima Party, Yulia Shamal-Berkovich, called for Haaretz to be closed down, backing a similar demand from fellow MK Michael Ben-Ari, of the right-wing National Union.
She accused Haaretz management of having “chosen to hide” over the case and blamed it for advising Blau to remain abroad. She said the newspaper “must make sure the materials that are in his possession are returned. If Haaretz fails to do so, its newspaper license should be revoked without delay.”
Another Kadima MK, Yisrael Hasson, a former deputy head of the Shin Bet, this week urged Haaretz readers to boycott the newspaper until Blau was fired.
A petition calling on the Shin Bet to end its threat to charge Blau with espionage has attracted the signatures of several prominent journalists in Israel.
“We believe the Blau case is unique and are concerned this unique case will create a dangerous precedent,” their letter states. “Until now, prosecution authorities have not sought to try reporters for the offence of holding classified information, an offence most of us are guilty of in one way or another.”
A group of Israeli human rights organizations is due to submit a letter this week to the government demanding that the investigation concentrate on lawbreaking by the army rather the “character assassination” of Blau and his sources.
Yesterday, the supreme court tightened restrictions on Anat Kamm, one of Blau’s main informants, who has been under house arrest since December for copying up to 2,000 military documents while she was a soldier. She is accused of espionage with intent to harm the state, a charge that carries a tariff of 25 years in jail.
The papers copied by Kamm, 23, included military orders that violated court rulings and justified law-breaking by soldiers.
Judge Ayala Procaccia said: “The acts attributed to the respondent point to a deep internal distorted perception of a soldier's duties to the military system he or she is required to serve, and a serious perversion from the basic responsibility that a citizen owes the state to which he or she belongs.”
Kamm, the court decided, must not leave her apartment and must be watched by a close relative at all times.
Media coverage of the case in Israel has been largely hostile to both Kamm and Blau. Gideon Levy observed in Haaretz today: “The real betrayal has been that of the journalists, who have betrayed their profession -- journalists who take sides with the security apparatus against colleagues who are doing their job bringing light to the dark.”
Calling Israel "a Shin Bet state," Levy added: “If it depended on public opinion, Kamm and Blau would be executed and Haaretz would be shut down on the spot.”
Jonathan Cook is a writer and journalist based in Nazareth, Israel. A version of this article originally appeared in The National, printed in Abu Dhabi. It is republished here with the author's permission.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=277725
14 apr 2010
Mossad operation threatened against reporter
By Jonathan Cook
An Israeli journalist who went into hiding after writing a series of reports showing lawbreaking approved by Israeli army commanders faces a lengthy jail term for espionage if caught, as Israeli security services warned at the weekend they would "remove the gloves" to track him down.
The Shin Bet, Israel's secret police, said it was treating Uri Blau, a reporter with the liberal Haaretz daily newspaper who has gone underground in London, as a "fugitive felon" and that a warrant for his arrest had been issued.
Options being considered are an extradition request to the British authorities or, if that fails, a secret operation by Mossad, Israel's spy agency, to smuggle him back, according to Ma'ariv, a right-wing Israeli newspaper.
It was revealed yesterday that Mr Blau's informant, Anat Kamm, 23, a former conscript soldier who copied hundreds of classified documents during her military service, had confessed shortly after her arrest in December to doing so to expose "war crimes."
The Shin Bet claims that Mr Blau is holding hundreds of classified documents, including some reported to relate to Operation Cast Lead, Israel's attack on Gaza in winter 2008 in which the army is widely believed to have violated the rules of war.
Other documents, the basis of a Haaretz investigation published in 2008, concern a meeting between the head of the army, Gabi Ashkenazi, and the Shin Bet in which it was agreed to ignore a court ruling and continue carrying out executions of Palestinian leaders in the occupied territories.
Yuval Diskin, head of the Shin Bet, who has said his organisation was previously "too sensitive with the investigation," is now demanding that Mr Blau reveal his entire document archive and take a lie-detector test on his return to identify his sources, according to Haaretz. The newspaper and its lawyers have recommended that he remain in hiding to protect his informants.
Haaretz has also revealed that, in a highly unusual move shortly before Israel's attack on Gaza, it agreed to pull a printed edition after the army demanded at the last minute that one of Mr Blau's stories not be published. His report had already passed the military censor, which checks that articles do not endanger national security.
Lawyers and human rights groups fear that the army and Shin Bet are trying to silence investigative journalists and send a warning to other correspondents not to follow in Mr Blau's path.
"We have a dangerous precedent here, whereby the handing over of material to an Israeli newspaper is seen by the prosecutor's office as equivalent to contact with a foreign agent," said Eitan Lehman, Ms Kamm's lawyer. "The very notion of presenting information to the Israeli public alone is taken as an intention to hurt national security."
The Shin Bet's determination to arrest Mr Blau was revealed after a blanket gag order was lifted late last week on Ms Kamm's case. She has been under house arrest since December. She has admitted copying hundreds of classified documents while serving in the office of Brig Gen Yair Naveh, in charge of operations in the West Bank, between 2005 and 2007.
Under an agreement with the Shin Bet last year, Haaretz and Mr Blau handed over 50 documents and agreed to the destruction of Mr Blau's computer.
Both sides accuse the other of subsequently reneging on the deal: the Shin Bet says Mr Blau secretly kept other documents copied by Ms Kamm that could be useful to Israel's enemies; while Mr Blau says the Shin Bet used the returned documents to track down Ms Kamm, his source, after assurances that they would not do so.
Haaretz said Mr Blau fears that they will try to identify his other informants if he hands over his archive.
Mr Blau learned of his predicament in December while out of the country on holiday. He said a friend called to warn that the Shin Bet had broken into his home and ransacked it. He later learned they had been monitoring his telephone, e-mail and computer for many months.
In a move that has baffled many observers, the Shin Bet revealed last week that Mr Blau was hiding in London, despite the threat that it would make him an easier target for other countries' intelligence agencies.
Amir Mizroch, an analyst with the right-wing The Jerusalem Post newspaper, noted that it was as if Israel's security services were "saying to Syrian, Lebanese, Palestinian, Hizbullah and Iranian intelligence agents in London: 'Yalla, be our guests, go get Uri Blau.'" He added that the real goal might be to flush out Mr Blau so that he would seek sanctuary at the Israeli embassy.
Ms Kamm is charged with espionage with intent to harm national security, the harshest indictment possible and one that could land in her jail for 25 years. Yesterday another of her lawyers, Avigdor Feldman, appealed to Mr Blau to return to Israel and give back the documents to help "minimise the affair."
"The real question is whether this exceptionally heavy-handed approach is designed only to get back Kamm's documents or go after Blau and his other sources," said Jeff Halper, an Israeli analyst. "It may be that Kamm is the excuse the security services need to identify Blau's circle of informants."
Mr Blau has already published several stories, apparently based on Ms Kamm's documents, showing that the army command approved policies that not only broke international law but also violated the rulings of Israel's courts.
His reports have included revelations that senior commanders approved extra-judicial assassinations in the occupied territories that were almost certain to kill Palestinian bystanders; that, in violation of a commitment to the high court, the army issued orders to execute wanted Palestinians even if they could be safely captured; and that the defence ministry compiled a secret report showing that the great majority of settlements in the West Bank were illegal even under Israeli law.
Although the original stories date to 2008, the army issued a statement belatedly this week that Mr Blau's reports were "outrageous and misleading." No senior commanders have been charged over the army's alleged lawbreaking activities.
B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, said its research had shown that "in many cases soldiers have been conducting themselves in the territories as if they were on a hit mission, as opposed to arrest operations".
It added that the authorities had "rushed to investigate the leak and chose to ignore the severe suspicions of blatant wrongdoings depicted in those documents."
A group of senior journalists established a petition this week calling for Mr Blau to be spared a trial: "So far, the authorities have not prosecuted journalists for holding secret information, which most of us have had in one form or another. This policy by the prosecution reflects, in our view, an imbalance between journalistic freedom, the freedom of expression and the need for security."
However, media coverage of the case in Israel has been largely hostile. Yuval Elbashan, a lawyer, wrote in Haaretz yesterday that Mr Blau's fellow military reporters and analysts had in the past few days abandoned their colleague and proven "their loyalty to the [security] system as the lowliest of its servants."
One, Yossi Yehoshua, a military correspondent with the country's largest-circulation newspaper, Yedioth Aharonoth, who is said to have been approached by Ms Kamm before she turned to Mr Blau, is due to testify against her in her trial due next month.
Chat forums and talkback columns also suggest little sympathy among the Israeli public for either Ms Kamm or Mr Blau. Several Hebrew websites show pictures of Ms Kamm behind bars or next to a hangman's noose.
A report on Israel National News, a news service for settlers, alleged that Ms Kamm had been under the influence of "rabidly left-wing" professors at Tel Aviv University when she handed over the documents to the Haaretz reporter.
Jonathan Cook is a writer and journalist based in Nazareth, Israel. A version of this article originally appeared in The National, published in Abu Dhabi. It is republished here with permission from the author.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=276203
Mossad operation threatened against reporter
By Jonathan Cook
An Israeli journalist who went into hiding after writing a series of reports showing lawbreaking approved by Israeli army commanders faces a lengthy jail term for espionage if caught, as Israeli security services warned at the weekend they would "remove the gloves" to track him down.
The Shin Bet, Israel's secret police, said it was treating Uri Blau, a reporter with the liberal Haaretz daily newspaper who has gone underground in London, as a "fugitive felon" and that a warrant for his arrest had been issued.
Options being considered are an extradition request to the British authorities or, if that fails, a secret operation by Mossad, Israel's spy agency, to smuggle him back, according to Ma'ariv, a right-wing Israeli newspaper.
It was revealed yesterday that Mr Blau's informant, Anat Kamm, 23, a former conscript soldier who copied hundreds of classified documents during her military service, had confessed shortly after her arrest in December to doing so to expose "war crimes."
The Shin Bet claims that Mr Blau is holding hundreds of classified documents, including some reported to relate to Operation Cast Lead, Israel's attack on Gaza in winter 2008 in which the army is widely believed to have violated the rules of war.
Other documents, the basis of a Haaretz investigation published in 2008, concern a meeting between the head of the army, Gabi Ashkenazi, and the Shin Bet in which it was agreed to ignore a court ruling and continue carrying out executions of Palestinian leaders in the occupied territories.
Yuval Diskin, head of the Shin Bet, who has said his organisation was previously "too sensitive with the investigation," is now demanding that Mr Blau reveal his entire document archive and take a lie-detector test on his return to identify his sources, according to Haaretz. The newspaper and its lawyers have recommended that he remain in hiding to protect his informants.
Haaretz has also revealed that, in a highly unusual move shortly before Israel's attack on Gaza, it agreed to pull a printed edition after the army demanded at the last minute that one of Mr Blau's stories not be published. His report had already passed the military censor, which checks that articles do not endanger national security.
Lawyers and human rights groups fear that the army and Shin Bet are trying to silence investigative journalists and send a warning to other correspondents not to follow in Mr Blau's path.
"We have a dangerous precedent here, whereby the handing over of material to an Israeli newspaper is seen by the prosecutor's office as equivalent to contact with a foreign agent," said Eitan Lehman, Ms Kamm's lawyer. "The very notion of presenting information to the Israeli public alone is taken as an intention to hurt national security."
The Shin Bet's determination to arrest Mr Blau was revealed after a blanket gag order was lifted late last week on Ms Kamm's case. She has been under house arrest since December. She has admitted copying hundreds of classified documents while serving in the office of Brig Gen Yair Naveh, in charge of operations in the West Bank, between 2005 and 2007.
Under an agreement with the Shin Bet last year, Haaretz and Mr Blau handed over 50 documents and agreed to the destruction of Mr Blau's computer.
Both sides accuse the other of subsequently reneging on the deal: the Shin Bet says Mr Blau secretly kept other documents copied by Ms Kamm that could be useful to Israel's enemies; while Mr Blau says the Shin Bet used the returned documents to track down Ms Kamm, his source, after assurances that they would not do so.
Haaretz said Mr Blau fears that they will try to identify his other informants if he hands over his archive.
Mr Blau learned of his predicament in December while out of the country on holiday. He said a friend called to warn that the Shin Bet had broken into his home and ransacked it. He later learned they had been monitoring his telephone, e-mail and computer for many months.
In a move that has baffled many observers, the Shin Bet revealed last week that Mr Blau was hiding in London, despite the threat that it would make him an easier target for other countries' intelligence agencies.
Amir Mizroch, an analyst with the right-wing The Jerusalem Post newspaper, noted that it was as if Israel's security services were "saying to Syrian, Lebanese, Palestinian, Hizbullah and Iranian intelligence agents in London: 'Yalla, be our guests, go get Uri Blau.'" He added that the real goal might be to flush out Mr Blau so that he would seek sanctuary at the Israeli embassy.
Ms Kamm is charged with espionage with intent to harm national security, the harshest indictment possible and one that could land in her jail for 25 years. Yesterday another of her lawyers, Avigdor Feldman, appealed to Mr Blau to return to Israel and give back the documents to help "minimise the affair."
"The real question is whether this exceptionally heavy-handed approach is designed only to get back Kamm's documents or go after Blau and his other sources," said Jeff Halper, an Israeli analyst. "It may be that Kamm is the excuse the security services need to identify Blau's circle of informants."
Mr Blau has already published several stories, apparently based on Ms Kamm's documents, showing that the army command approved policies that not only broke international law but also violated the rulings of Israel's courts.
His reports have included revelations that senior commanders approved extra-judicial assassinations in the occupied territories that were almost certain to kill Palestinian bystanders; that, in violation of a commitment to the high court, the army issued orders to execute wanted Palestinians even if they could be safely captured; and that the defence ministry compiled a secret report showing that the great majority of settlements in the West Bank were illegal even under Israeli law.
Although the original stories date to 2008, the army issued a statement belatedly this week that Mr Blau's reports were "outrageous and misleading." No senior commanders have been charged over the army's alleged lawbreaking activities.
B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, said its research had shown that "in many cases soldiers have been conducting themselves in the territories as if they were on a hit mission, as opposed to arrest operations".
It added that the authorities had "rushed to investigate the leak and chose to ignore the severe suspicions of blatant wrongdoings depicted in those documents."
A group of senior journalists established a petition this week calling for Mr Blau to be spared a trial: "So far, the authorities have not prosecuted journalists for holding secret information, which most of us have had in one form or another. This policy by the prosecution reflects, in our view, an imbalance between journalistic freedom, the freedom of expression and the need for security."
However, media coverage of the case in Israel has been largely hostile. Yuval Elbashan, a lawyer, wrote in Haaretz yesterday that Mr Blau's fellow military reporters and analysts had in the past few days abandoned their colleague and proven "their loyalty to the [security] system as the lowliest of its servants."
One, Yossi Yehoshua, a military correspondent with the country's largest-circulation newspaper, Yedioth Aharonoth, who is said to have been approached by Ms Kamm before she turned to Mr Blau, is due to testify against her in her trial due next month.
Chat forums and talkback columns also suggest little sympathy among the Israeli public for either Ms Kamm or Mr Blau. Several Hebrew websites show pictures of Ms Kamm behind bars or next to a hangman's noose.
A report on Israel National News, a news service for settlers, alleged that Ms Kamm had been under the influence of "rabidly left-wing" professors at Tel Aviv University when she handed over the documents to the Haaretz reporter.
Jonathan Cook is a writer and journalist based in Nazareth, Israel. A version of this article originally appeared in The National, published in Abu Dhabi. It is republished here with permission from the author.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=276203
8 apr 2010
Israel Breaks Kam Gag: Floodgates Open
Israel Breaks Kam Gag: Floodgates Open
For three weeks, an assiduous group of Israeli and American Jewish bloggers and human rights activists have been chipping away at the solid rock wall of secrecy surrounding the Anat Kam-Uri Blau case.
Today, with the help of some craven Shin Bet officials who’ve been embarrassed by the tumult we created, the wall has collapsed and the floodgates of information and recrimination have been opened.
There is a great deal to report here on multiple fronts involving multiple characters in this drama, so please bear with me.
First, the authorities released a new indictment which outlines the alleged criminal acts of Kam and Blau in this case. Before we review it, let’s keep in mind that the incident in question would never in most other democratic nations amount to a case of criminal espionage since the leaker was a whistleblower seeking to reveal serious crimes of her superior officers and because the material was leaked to a professional journalist who published in one of the nation’s leading publications.
Here is Dimi Reider’s summary of some of the salient passages:
1. The charges are grave in the extreme. Although the documents were delivered by an Israeli soldier to an Israeli journalist, Kamm is charged with grave espionage (“divulging secret information with the intent to harm the security of the state”)
2. Kamm had first offered the documents to Yedioth Ahronoth’s Yossi Yehoshua, but “the delivery did not take place.” Yehoshua is slated to appear as a witness for the prosecution.
3. There’s a “third man” – note that she used someone else to copy the documents…
4. The investigation is led by the International Crimes Investigation Unit. It may have to do with the charge – espionage – or may hint she had tried to pass the documents [to journalists] abroad.
Some other important facts: previously we knew Kam faced a sentence of 15 years for the charges. But the new indictment reveals a more grave charge for which the penalty is life in prison. We previously knew Kam took as many as 1,000 documents from the office of Gen. Yair Naveh. The indictment claims she took 2,000 documents (keep in mind that the claims made are just that and that Israeli authorities have been known to exaggerate or distort the truth in such cases).
yuval diskin
Yuval Diskin, Shin Bet chief: would you buy a used national security indictment from this man? (Life)
She is accused of committing grave damage against the State through her leaks:
The accused did so out of ideological motivations and with the intent to damage the security of the state, among other means, through publishing the documents to the general public.
Note the unwillingness of the State to consider that Kam’s actions were based on MORALITY. Using the term “ideology” allows them to smear her and her motivations. But make no mistake, this was a lesser crime committed to expose a greater one. And the greater crime posed far more danger to the State and Israeli democracy than Kam’s actions.
What also goes unmentioned is that the “damage” she actually did was to reveal grave violations of Israeli law by the highest echelons of the IDF. The only damage she did was to their reputations. Of course, it is inherent in the mind of generals and tyrants that damage to their own selves is the same as damaging the nation. But citizens may have a more sanguine view of this.
Further, the only use made of the documents was for those published in Haaretz. Every article Uri Blau wrote using these documents was approved by the very same Israeli military censor whose job it is to ensure that no article is published which injures Israeli security. So how can Yuval Diskin argue that Kam or Blau damaged the security of the state?? It’s an absolutely ludicrous and baseless charge.
Finally on this subject, keep in mind that the Shin Bet has a history of wildly exaggerating charges against various accused in national security cases. See Jerry Haber’s post on this subject. DO NOT TRUST anything they say about this case unless it is verified by a disinterested, informed and credible source. The Shin Bet is none of these things.
While I am torn as to how to characterize Kam’s motives, it is reasonable to hear Dimi Reider’s interpretation of them, which are highly charitable (and hopefully justifiably so–I’ve expressed some doubts on this subject myself):
To my mind, Kamm appears to be an earnestly patriotic woman who had faith in her country and trusted its authorities to follow the rules. In her military service, that very basic sense of decency was affronted by the fact the authorities couldn’t care less about the rules, and vigorously engaged gross violations of Israeli and international law; this is especially true about her superior, Brig Gen Yair Naveh. She decided to act on it, and did the most democratic thing she could have done: She yanked at the alarm bell. People coming from sincere faith to a rude awakening often become the most damning accusers.
The indictment, due to sloppy excision, actually reveals Kam’s home address. This is a grave breach of privacy and I’d imagine that a court in any other democratic country would look upon this government malfeasance very unfavorably. Such an act actually opens the defendant to personal and physical attack by the many Israeli rightists who believe she is a traitor to her country. In other countries, I might believe such sloppiness was accidental. But with the Shin Bet such errors are hardly ever accidents. They want Kam exposed to the wrath of Israel.
They want to punish her and make an example of her. Not just to throw her in prison, but to punish her psychologically and emotionally. This is way the security services play the game there.
Jerry Haber’s comparison of Anat Kam (and Uri Blau) to a few other historic whistleblowers is apt:
Anat Kamm. Daniel Ellsberg. Donald Woods. What do they have in common?
I frankly am astonished that any Israeli reporter would testify for the prosecution against a whistleblower who had offered secret documents to him. What does this say about the value this reporter and Yediot Achronot attaches to such sources? Why would any source trust anyone from Yediot in future?
Have the editors thought through the implications of his testimony for the prosecution. I say, if he does testify then Yediot is little more than a government mouthpiece and its journalistic credentials are deeply tarnished. How can they hold their head up to their readers and the rest of Israel? It is one thing to be a loyal subject of the realm and quite another to become an extension of the security apparatus. Shame on Yossi Yehoshua. Shame on Yediot.
Now to Uri Blau. The Shin Bet alleges it made an agreement with him to return the documents he received from Kam and destroy his computer. It claims that he broke the agreement by taking documents with him and fleeing the country. What doesn’t wash with this explanation, and it’s the same one the Shin Bet tried to use in incriminating another citizen it effectively exiled, Azmi Bishara how does a wanted journalist flee the country with top secret documents and the Shin Bet doesn’t know about it?
Simply put, no citizen facing his level of scrutiny leaves the country unless the Shin Bet permits it. They allowed him to leave. If they didn’t know what he was carrying on his person they’re either lying or incompetent. I doubt the latter.
Here is Haaretz’s version of the same events. I’ll let you decide which side appears more credible:
“On September 15, 2009, these discussions [between Blau and the Shin Bet] led to an agreement under which Uri Blau transferred to the Shin Bet dozens of documents that were in his possession, and in exchange the Shin Bet committed to refrain from investigating the reporter regarding his journalistic sources, refrain from investigating the reporter as a suspect, and refrain from using the documents as evidence in legal proceedings against the person responsible for leaking the information.
“Once all the conditions were agreed upon and the documents were transferred, the Shin Bet requested Uri Blau’s personal computer. Haaretz agreed, and the computer was destroyed.
“A short time later, the Shin Bet arrested Anat Kam, a former soldier in the IDF Central Command, on suspicion that she was Uri Blau’s source. In January 2010, the Shin Bet informed Blau’s lawyer, Mibi Mozer, that his client was wanted for investigation. Mozer said that the demand contradicted the conditions of the agreement and that he would advise Blau not to comply.
“From that point on, the Shin Bet refused to fulfill the conditions of the agreement it had signed. The Shin Bet also rejected Mozar’s proposal to draft another agreement that would highlight the Shin Bet’s goal of protecting Israel’s security, while still preserving the conditions of the former agreement.
I understand that it’s not the purpose of intelligence services in any country to be pure and lily-white, by any standard this narrative shows the Shin Bet to be a despicable rogue force accountable to no one and bound by nothing, not even written legal agreements.
And even in any subsequent legal proceeding, the security agency will face no sanction for breaking this agreement. I hope that Haaretz will eventually release the agreement to further embarrass the Shin Bet. I feel sad for Israel to have its domestic security secured by such utter scoundrels.
While an Israeli source told me that Galey Tzahal reported that the State said they would not prosecute Uri Blau, Haaretz reports that he will remain in exile. This would indicate that the Galey Tzahal report has to be in error. No reporter remains in exile unless he is serious jeopardy.
Here Uri Blau finally has an opportunity to speak his piece about the affair.
Let us all be very clear in this and subsequent reporting of this story that the accused are the heroes of Israeli democracy and the accusers are actually the criminals. We must make them pay the price. It may be a vain undertaking. But if there is justice in the world, we must try to see it is done and not perverted. Israel is “a world turned upside down,” to use the title of Leon Rosselson’s wonderful revolutionary song.
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/2010/04/08/israel-breaks-kam-gag-floodgates-open/
Today, with the help of some craven Shin Bet officials who’ve been embarrassed by the tumult we created, the wall has collapsed and the floodgates of information and recrimination have been opened.
There is a great deal to report here on multiple fronts involving multiple characters in this drama, so please bear with me.
First, the authorities released a new indictment which outlines the alleged criminal acts of Kam and Blau in this case. Before we review it, let’s keep in mind that the incident in question would never in most other democratic nations amount to a case of criminal espionage since the leaker was a whistleblower seeking to reveal serious crimes of her superior officers and because the material was leaked to a professional journalist who published in one of the nation’s leading publications.
Here is Dimi Reider’s summary of some of the salient passages:
1. The charges are grave in the extreme. Although the documents were delivered by an Israeli soldier to an Israeli journalist, Kamm is charged with grave espionage (“divulging secret information with the intent to harm the security of the state”)
2. Kamm had first offered the documents to Yedioth Ahronoth’s Yossi Yehoshua, but “the delivery did not take place.” Yehoshua is slated to appear as a witness for the prosecution.
3. There’s a “third man” – note that she used someone else to copy the documents…
4. The investigation is led by the International Crimes Investigation Unit. It may have to do with the charge – espionage – or may hint she had tried to pass the documents [to journalists] abroad.
Some other important facts: previously we knew Kam faced a sentence of 15 years for the charges. But the new indictment reveals a more grave charge for which the penalty is life in prison. We previously knew Kam took as many as 1,000 documents from the office of Gen. Yair Naveh. The indictment claims she took 2,000 documents (keep in mind that the claims made are just that and that Israeli authorities have been known to exaggerate or distort the truth in such cases).
yuval diskin
Yuval Diskin, Shin Bet chief: would you buy a used national security indictment from this man? (Life)
She is accused of committing grave damage against the State through her leaks:
The accused did so out of ideological motivations and with the intent to damage the security of the state, among other means, through publishing the documents to the general public.
Note the unwillingness of the State to consider that Kam’s actions were based on MORALITY. Using the term “ideology” allows them to smear her and her motivations. But make no mistake, this was a lesser crime committed to expose a greater one. And the greater crime posed far more danger to the State and Israeli democracy than Kam’s actions.
What also goes unmentioned is that the “damage” she actually did was to reveal grave violations of Israeli law by the highest echelons of the IDF. The only damage she did was to their reputations. Of course, it is inherent in the mind of generals and tyrants that damage to their own selves is the same as damaging the nation. But citizens may have a more sanguine view of this.
Further, the only use made of the documents was for those published in Haaretz. Every article Uri Blau wrote using these documents was approved by the very same Israeli military censor whose job it is to ensure that no article is published which injures Israeli security. So how can Yuval Diskin argue that Kam or Blau damaged the security of the state?? It’s an absolutely ludicrous and baseless charge.
Finally on this subject, keep in mind that the Shin Bet has a history of wildly exaggerating charges against various accused in national security cases. See Jerry Haber’s post on this subject. DO NOT TRUST anything they say about this case unless it is verified by a disinterested, informed and credible source. The Shin Bet is none of these things.
While I am torn as to how to characterize Kam’s motives, it is reasonable to hear Dimi Reider’s interpretation of them, which are highly charitable (and hopefully justifiably so–I’ve expressed some doubts on this subject myself):
To my mind, Kamm appears to be an earnestly patriotic woman who had faith in her country and trusted its authorities to follow the rules. In her military service, that very basic sense of decency was affronted by the fact the authorities couldn’t care less about the rules, and vigorously engaged gross violations of Israeli and international law; this is especially true about her superior, Brig Gen Yair Naveh. She decided to act on it, and did the most democratic thing she could have done: She yanked at the alarm bell. People coming from sincere faith to a rude awakening often become the most damning accusers.
The indictment, due to sloppy excision, actually reveals Kam’s home address. This is a grave breach of privacy and I’d imagine that a court in any other democratic country would look upon this government malfeasance very unfavorably. Such an act actually opens the defendant to personal and physical attack by the many Israeli rightists who believe she is a traitor to her country. In other countries, I might believe such sloppiness was accidental. But with the Shin Bet such errors are hardly ever accidents. They want Kam exposed to the wrath of Israel.
They want to punish her and make an example of her. Not just to throw her in prison, but to punish her psychologically and emotionally. This is way the security services play the game there.
Jerry Haber’s comparison of Anat Kam (and Uri Blau) to a few other historic whistleblowers is apt:
Anat Kamm. Daniel Ellsberg. Donald Woods. What do they have in common?
I frankly am astonished that any Israeli reporter would testify for the prosecution against a whistleblower who had offered secret documents to him. What does this say about the value this reporter and Yediot Achronot attaches to such sources? Why would any source trust anyone from Yediot in future?
Have the editors thought through the implications of his testimony for the prosecution. I say, if he does testify then Yediot is little more than a government mouthpiece and its journalistic credentials are deeply tarnished. How can they hold their head up to their readers and the rest of Israel? It is one thing to be a loyal subject of the realm and quite another to become an extension of the security apparatus. Shame on Yossi Yehoshua. Shame on Yediot.
Now to Uri Blau. The Shin Bet alleges it made an agreement with him to return the documents he received from Kam and destroy his computer. It claims that he broke the agreement by taking documents with him and fleeing the country. What doesn’t wash with this explanation, and it’s the same one the Shin Bet tried to use in incriminating another citizen it effectively exiled, Azmi Bishara how does a wanted journalist flee the country with top secret documents and the Shin Bet doesn’t know about it?
Simply put, no citizen facing his level of scrutiny leaves the country unless the Shin Bet permits it. They allowed him to leave. If they didn’t know what he was carrying on his person they’re either lying or incompetent. I doubt the latter.
Here is Haaretz’s version of the same events. I’ll let you decide which side appears more credible:
“On September 15, 2009, these discussions [between Blau and the Shin Bet] led to an agreement under which Uri Blau transferred to the Shin Bet dozens of documents that were in his possession, and in exchange the Shin Bet committed to refrain from investigating the reporter regarding his journalistic sources, refrain from investigating the reporter as a suspect, and refrain from using the documents as evidence in legal proceedings against the person responsible for leaking the information.
“Once all the conditions were agreed upon and the documents were transferred, the Shin Bet requested Uri Blau’s personal computer. Haaretz agreed, and the computer was destroyed.
“A short time later, the Shin Bet arrested Anat Kam, a former soldier in the IDF Central Command, on suspicion that she was Uri Blau’s source. In January 2010, the Shin Bet informed Blau’s lawyer, Mibi Mozer, that his client was wanted for investigation. Mozer said that the demand contradicted the conditions of the agreement and that he would advise Blau not to comply.
“From that point on, the Shin Bet refused to fulfill the conditions of the agreement it had signed. The Shin Bet also rejected Mozar’s proposal to draft another agreement that would highlight the Shin Bet’s goal of protecting Israel’s security, while still preserving the conditions of the former agreement.
I understand that it’s not the purpose of intelligence services in any country to be pure and lily-white, by any standard this narrative shows the Shin Bet to be a despicable rogue force accountable to no one and bound by nothing, not even written legal agreements.
And even in any subsequent legal proceeding, the security agency will face no sanction for breaking this agreement. I hope that Haaretz will eventually release the agreement to further embarrass the Shin Bet. I feel sad for Israel to have its domestic security secured by such utter scoundrels.
While an Israeli source told me that Galey Tzahal reported that the State said they would not prosecute Uri Blau, Haaretz reports that he will remain in exile. This would indicate that the Galey Tzahal report has to be in error. No reporter remains in exile unless he is serious jeopardy.
Here Uri Blau finally has an opportunity to speak his piece about the affair.
Let us all be very clear in this and subsequent reporting of this story that the accused are the heroes of Israeli democracy and the accusers are actually the criminals. We must make them pay the price. It may be a vain undertaking. But if there is justice in the world, we must try to see it is done and not perverted. Israel is “a world turned upside down,” to use the title of Leon Rosselson’s wonderful revolutionary song.
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/2010/04/08/israel-breaks-kam-gag-floodgates-open/
23 mar 2010
No, Mr Shalom, facts do matter
No, Mr Shalom, facts do matter
Bassim Khoury, former minister of economy, gives a speech during his visit to a cardboard factory in the West Bank city of Nablus on 31 May 2009
by Bassim Khoury
The following is a public response to comments made by Deputy Israeli Prime Minister Silvan Shalom broadcast on Israeli TV on Monday, by former Palestinian Minister of Economy Bassim Khoury's decision to resign from his post in October 2009.
Even though I know quite well that for people like you, facts are merely "a matter of opinion" and thus you do not want to be "confused" by them, non-the-less I feel compelled to respond to your latest fabrications aired on Israeli TV on Monday 22 March 2010 because for me, "facts do matter."
We Palestinians have been at the receiving end of Israel's atrocities for decades. Your perceived invincibility led you to believe that repeating lies several times transform them to truths. I do not believe that you even managed to convince yourself. Deep down you must realize that the current status quo of occupation and colonization is not sustainable and that Israel must recognize and respect the "Green Line" as a "Red Line."
After finishing the JEC meeting which you and me co-chaired on 2 September 2009, your statements to the press were full of falsehoods and claims of "discussions" that never took place. You elected to transform this technical meeting into a "media circus" in order to boost your political prospects. Unfortunately, as a minister I was barred from responding to your spins. Thus, I am ecstatic that now as a private citizen I face no such limitations. You should have listened to our meeting's tapes before making claims that are easily proven wrong. I am sure your side still has a copy, but in case you need one, I can check if we can provide you with it.
Your statement that: "The Palestinians dismissed the minister" who "dared to meet you" is a mere "figment of your imagination." Let me remind you of why I resigned; as was widely reported in the press, including the Israeli press, I resigned my post as the Palestinian Minister of National Economy because I disagreed with how we dealt with the Goldstone report. I simply could not live with the notion that justice to the victims of your war on Gaza will be delayed. I submitted my resignation on the day discussions were postponed 2 October 2009 and it was accepted on 15 October 2009. Meeting you has nothing to do with why I am no longer a minister.
I repeat the challenge I made at the PIBF conference attended by Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals on 13/10/2009 in Stockholm: "If Israel does not have blood on its hands, why are you refusing an independent investigation of the war on Gaza. Only the guilty fears an investigation."
Additionally, meeting you does not take guts, as I proved in our debate at Tel Aviv University in July 2009 and again in the JEC meeting, and as was reported in the press, you come so unprepared, leading to some truly pitiful performances. The arrogance of power truly blinds.
If you truly want to make your mark on Israeli and world politics, I suggest you start differentiating yourself from "yesterday's men" who are in power in Israel today. You must make the transformation that Rabin, Sharon and Olmert did. I repeat what I told you in our debate: "We Palestinians will not live forever in this "abusive out of wedlock relationship" we have been having with you. As Elias Freig, the late mayor of Bethlehem put it: "Israel must decide either to marry us or to let us go;" either two states with the Green Line as our border, or one state with a "one man one vote." Israel, the choice is yours.
I hope this response will stop the spinning machine and I will not be forced again to come out of my voluntary current retirement from politics to answer more fabrications. A small advice: Next time you want to even remotely mention anything that refers to me, check your facts first because Mr Shalom: I have everything documented as "facts do matter."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=271054
by Bassim Khoury
The following is a public response to comments made by Deputy Israeli Prime Minister Silvan Shalom broadcast on Israeli TV on Monday, by former Palestinian Minister of Economy Bassim Khoury's decision to resign from his post in October 2009.
Even though I know quite well that for people like you, facts are merely "a matter of opinion" and thus you do not want to be "confused" by them, non-the-less I feel compelled to respond to your latest fabrications aired on Israeli TV on Monday 22 March 2010 because for me, "facts do matter."
We Palestinians have been at the receiving end of Israel's atrocities for decades. Your perceived invincibility led you to believe that repeating lies several times transform them to truths. I do not believe that you even managed to convince yourself. Deep down you must realize that the current status quo of occupation and colonization is not sustainable and that Israel must recognize and respect the "Green Line" as a "Red Line."
After finishing the JEC meeting which you and me co-chaired on 2 September 2009, your statements to the press were full of falsehoods and claims of "discussions" that never took place. You elected to transform this technical meeting into a "media circus" in order to boost your political prospects. Unfortunately, as a minister I was barred from responding to your spins. Thus, I am ecstatic that now as a private citizen I face no such limitations. You should have listened to our meeting's tapes before making claims that are easily proven wrong. I am sure your side still has a copy, but in case you need one, I can check if we can provide you with it.
Your statement that: "The Palestinians dismissed the minister" who "dared to meet you" is a mere "figment of your imagination." Let me remind you of why I resigned; as was widely reported in the press, including the Israeli press, I resigned my post as the Palestinian Minister of National Economy because I disagreed with how we dealt with the Goldstone report. I simply could not live with the notion that justice to the victims of your war on Gaza will be delayed. I submitted my resignation on the day discussions were postponed 2 October 2009 and it was accepted on 15 October 2009. Meeting you has nothing to do with why I am no longer a minister.
I repeat the challenge I made at the PIBF conference attended by Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals on 13/10/2009 in Stockholm: "If Israel does not have blood on its hands, why are you refusing an independent investigation of the war on Gaza. Only the guilty fears an investigation."
Additionally, meeting you does not take guts, as I proved in our debate at Tel Aviv University in July 2009 and again in the JEC meeting, and as was reported in the press, you come so unprepared, leading to some truly pitiful performances. The arrogance of power truly blinds.
If you truly want to make your mark on Israeli and world politics, I suggest you start differentiating yourself from "yesterday's men" who are in power in Israel today. You must make the transformation that Rabin, Sharon and Olmert did. I repeat what I told you in our debate: "We Palestinians will not live forever in this "abusive out of wedlock relationship" we have been having with you. As Elias Freig, the late mayor of Bethlehem put it: "Israel must decide either to marry us or to let us go;" either two states with the Green Line as our border, or one state with a "one man one vote." Israel, the choice is yours.
I hope this response will stop the spinning machine and I will not be forced again to come out of my voluntary current retirement from politics to answer more fabrications. A small advice: Next time you want to even remotely mention anything that refers to me, check your facts first because Mr Shalom: I have everything documented as "facts do matter."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=271054
