Israel's Media Watch
update report # 53
November 10, 2000
- Amnesty International slams PA's draconian press policy
- CNN AND THE TEMPLE MOUNT
- Narrowing of the broad band; concentration of power in the media
- Committee to Protect Journalists
- Blaming Sharon
- Israeli "Posturing": The lead news story in today's New York Times
- Jordan Press Association Expels Secretary General
- Disney Bans R-Rated Movie Ads Before 9 P.M. on ABC Network
- Spinning In His Grave? U.S. Media Silent As Leah Rabin Slams Barak
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IMW News
1.
Amnesty International slams PA's draconian press policy
By Amira Hass Ha'aretz Palestinian Affairs Correspondent, Sept. 5, 2000
The human rights organization Amnesty International has called on the
Palestinian Authority to re-examine "urgently" a prevention of incitement
order issued by Chairman Yasser Arafat in November 1998, and its 1995 law on
journalism and publications.
The order was issued following demands made by Israel and the U.S. during
the Wye River talks one month earlier. Among other things, it prohibits
"incitement against international agreements" signed by the PLO.
The 1995 PA law drastically restricts the freedom of speech and expression.
Amnesty's call is carried in a report released today on freedom of
expression within the PA autonomous areas.
"In the last six years, the PA has arrested dozens of people, all human
rights activists, journalists, religious people, writers, government clerks,
professional union activists and members of the academia because they
exercised their legitimate right to freedom of speech," says the report
entitled "The Palestinian Authority - Silencing Dissent"
It says journalists have admitted they have to censor themselves because of
the PA's draconian policies against the press
2. Arutz 7, Sept. 13, 2000
CNN AND THE TEMPLE MOUNT
Does CNN have a hidden agenda - or is there another explanation for the
absence of the words "Temple Mount" when referring to the location of the
Holy Temple? In its latest articles on the Israeli-Palestinian
negotiations, CNN.com has described the Jewish People's holiest site as "a
site in East Jerusalem sacred to Moslems and Jews" and "a sensitive mosque
compound in Jerusalem's walled Old City." Both stories mentioned the
Moslem name of the site - al Haram al-Sharif - but "Temple Mount" appeared
nowhere. The last mention of the Temple Mount that is currently accessible
on a CNN news story is from Sept. 8: "Sites sacred to the world's
religions are located in the Old City of Jerusalem, including the area
called Temple Mount by the Israelis and al Haram al-Sharif, or Noble
Sanctuary, by Palestinians, Muslims and Arabs."
During last week's United Nations Millennium Conference, Prime Minister
Barak said, "When young Jesus walked in Jerusalem, he did not see any
mosques or churches - he saw only the Jewish Holy Temple." Comments can be
addressed to the CNN news team at <http://www.cnn.com/feedback/>.
3. Narrowing of the broad band - concentration of power in
the media
By Uzi Benziman
An imaginary scenario: Silvan Shalom is running for the Likud Party
leadership, or even for the office of prime minister. His brother-in-law,
Arnon Mozes, publisher of Yedioth Ahronoth, wants to help him get elected.
He decides to use his influential position in the paper which is, after all,
the nation's newspaper. He also exerts his influence over the cable channels
in which he has a not-to-be-sneezed-at share (the Yedioth Ahronoth group
holds 30 percent of Golden Channels), as well as over Channel Two (Yedioth
Ahronoth owns 24 percent of the Channel Two franchise, Reshet) and the
financial newspaper Globes (Eliezer Fishman, who owns Globes, happens to be
Mozes's partner).The Mozes-Fishman partnership is also likely to gain
control over high-speed Internet access this week, after the prime minister
pressured the attorney general to make an immediate decision on the
introduction of broad-band communications, while hand picking the cable
companies and Bezeq to carry out the mission. Awarding the franchise to the
cable companies (together with Bezeq) will almost certainly prevent other
players from entering the media market - the stage will be almost completely
dominated by the Mozes family and its partners.
This scenario is only imaginary since it is uncertain that Silvan Shalom
will run for prime minister (or for the Likud leadership). It is also
uncertain whether Arnon Mozes will want to help his brother-in-law fight his
political battles. Those at Yedioth Ahronoth will no doubt say that the
publisher makes a point of separating business or family interests and the
editorial decisions of the newspaper. Globes' journalists are also likely to
be irritated at being dragged into a hypothetical phenomenon where their
publisher interferes, infringing upon their independence.
But nevertheless, such fears are not groundless: They exist, at least
potentially, and highlight the existence of a serious problem.
If Ehud Barak had a real agenda to follow, he would never have urged Elyakim
Rubinstein to immediately present him with a legal opinion giving the
go-ahead to high-speed Internet operated by Bezeq and the cable companies.
Instead of declaring a civil "revolution" (or "reform" as the prime
minister's politically correct version would have it) every Monday and
Thursday, he should have seized the opportunity to instill some order into
the communications' market, and furthermore, to use the tools available to
the government to stop the concentration of power in this field. The
pressure he is applying on the attorney general to come to a quick decision
illustrates how influenced he is by the media sharks who wish to add broad
band media to the other media channels already sitting upon their mantles.
Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, not only in
politics, but also in the media - any doubts about this should be dispelled
by a glance at the exploits of Ofer Nimrodi. It is in the interests of the
politicians, the press and the general public that the media not be
dominated by only two or three families. Excessive centralization of an
industry opens a floodgate of serious flaws in the workings of the press and
in managing the public discussion on the running of the state. This danger
stems from the fact that the lion's share of the media is concentrated in
the hands of only two or three people. This will eventually create a
situation where the battle for freedom of expression will not be fought by
journalists against an all-powerful regime, but rather by politicians and
journalists against publishers.
The problems with centralization of ownership are numerous and will sooner
or later cause irreparable damage to the freedom and responsibility of the
Israeli media. It is possible, perhaps, to illustrate the danger by
reminding ourselves of what happened with the regulation of the banks'
shares: The disease was there, everyone was aware of it but no one treated
it out of their own selfish reasons, until it spread unchecked, leaving
behind some very difficult side-effects.
The decision to allow Bezeq and the cable companies to operate high-speed
Internet access should only be made if other companies are given a chance to
compete for this share of the market, while separating those who operate the
information-relaying channels from those who provide their contents, and
while creating an effective supervisory system which will force the media
barons to start giving a damn about the public and to stop abusing their
enormous power
4. Committee to Protect
Journalists
330 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001 USA
Web: www.cpj.org E-Mail: info@cpj.org mideast@cpj.org
Arafat's Official TV Station Teaches Children That All Of Israel
Is "Palestine"
NEW YORK- Yasir Arafat's official Palestinian Authority television
station is broadcasting children's shows that teach Arab children that all
of Israel --not just the administered territories-- is "Palestine."
The latest information about PA Television's anti-Israel children's
programs has been released by Palestinian Media Watch [PMW], a non-partisan
media monitoring group headed by Itamar Marcus, one of the Israeli
government representatives on the trilateral anti-incitement committee set
up after the 1998 Israel-PA Wye Accord.
Morton A. Klein, National President of the Zionist Organization of
America: "Instead of seeking peace with Israel, Arafat's television
station is teaching Arab children that Israel has no right to exist. Why
is the world silent in the face of these hateful declarations? Why should
the Clinton administration continue sending the Palestinian Arabs
$100-million annually?"
According to Palestinian Media Watch:
* All of Israel is "Palestine": "On
August 30, 2000, PA
Television began re-broadcasting a film clip for children that appeared
dozens of times in the past but was taken off the air due to Israeli
pressure. The clip defines all of Israel as Palestine, and the Israelis as
those who 'took everything in 1948.' The clip, called "This is My Land,
its Name is Palestine,' is enchanting. It opens with a few young children
building 'Palestine' with Lego-like game blocks. They 'build' houses and
'plant' trees; the atmosphere is one of joy and happiness. The children
are singing: 'My box in my room/ My room in my house/ my house in my
neighborhood/ my neighborhood in my country/ my country is very beautiful/
it has homes and oranges and neighbors and trees...' Then the song suddenly
stops, the music changes, and an 'earthquake' causes the houses to tremble
and fall. A young girl then says in a sad and solemn voice: 'Do you know
what happened in 1948? They took every single thing! They emptied the
room, they smashed the house, they torched the forest, they changed the
names, changed the names... This is still my land, it is a beautiful
land, the name of my land is Palestine.' The clip ends with the children
presenting themselves in turn, noting their name and town: Kafr Kassem,
Jerusalem, Haifa, Jaffa and other places in Israel.
* On August 28, 2000, on the PA
Television children's show "The
Bird's Garden," the host said: "Today I have chosen a truly beautiful
picture for you, a picture of the map of Palestine. [The host displays a
map of Israel, from Metullah to Eilat, excluding the Golan.] Let us all
look at it together. A drawing of Palestine. Truly beautiful. It has
Akko [Acre], Haifa, Jaffa, Tiberias, Tulkarm, Shechem [Nablus], Ramallah,
Gaza, Khan Yunis, Hebron, Jerusalem and Jenin. Palestine is so beautiful!
You can also see the Dead Sea, here. You can see how beautiful our country
is, how beautiful it is. And to all our cherished friends on the map, be
they from Akko, Haifa, Jaffa, Nazareth, Jenin, Tulkarm, Ramallah, Jerusalem
... or from everywhere, to all: welcome!"
© 2000 The Zionist Organization of America
5. Blaming Sharon
In a front-page news story and a lead
editorial, the
New York Times today blames an Israeli politician and former general, Ariel
Sharon, for the fact that Muslims emerging from Friday prayers at Al
Aksa mosque in Jerusalem rained stones on Jewish worshipers at the
Western Wall. In the Times's view, as in Yasser Arafat's, Mr. Sharon's
visit was inappropriately "provocative." So, the Times editorial
writes, "Ariel Sharon, the Likud leader, did Israel no favor by
provocatively leading his supporters to the Temple Mount on Thursday, asserting
Jewish claims to the Muslim holy site at a moment when authority over the
area is the most sensitive remaining issue in the peace talks." It's
hard to see how a visit by a Jewish Israeli politician to a Jewish holy
site that is under Israeli political sovereignty can fairly be criticized
as "provocative."
Imagine the Times writing an editorial saying,
"Martin
Luther King Jr., the civil rights leaders, did African Americans no
favor by provocatively leading his supporters to Selma, Alabama on Thursday,
asserting black claims to integration at a moment when racial
segregation is a sensitive and disputed issue." Or, to give a more recent
example, "Matthew Shepard, the gay University of Wyoming student, did gays no
favor by provocatively visiting a predominantly heterosexual bar on Thursday
at a time when gay rights are still a sensitive issue."
The editorial calls on Yasser Arafat to accept
international control
over the Temple Mount -- presumably control by the same United Nations that
for years
condemned Zionism as racism and that to this day routinely issues harsh and
unjustified criticism of Israel while turning a blind eye to Arab
human rights violations. But the Times editorial doesn't condemn
the Arabs for throwing stones at the innocent Jewish worshipers, and it
doesn't criticize the mufti or imam whose sermon reportedly whipped the
crowd at the Friday services into the stone-throwing frenzy. No, the only
person blamed for the violence was Mr. Sharon. All he did was walk
around with a tour guide on the Temple Mount plaza.
smartertimes - http://www.smartertimes.com
6. Israeli
"Posturing": The lead news story in today's New York Times,
about diplomatic efforts to reach an end to the clashes between Israel and the
Palestinian Arabs, reports, "Diplomats said Wednesday's session had been
taken up by considerable posturing. In his first meeting with the
secretary this morning, Mr. Barak went into long descriptions of how the
Palestinians were violating the agreements with Israel by acquiring
illegal arms and shooting at Israeli soldiers." If "posturing" is the word
being used by diplomats -- American diplomats? -- to describe dismissively
Mr. Barak's legitimate complaints about the failure of the Arabs to adhere
to prior agreements, then such rank insensitivity is probably worth a
story in itself. If "posturing" is the word the Times is using on its own
to describe Mr. Barak's position in the talks as it was described
neutrally by diplomats, then such dismissiveness in a news story by the
Times about Mr. Barak's legitimate complaints is way out of line.
www.smartertimes.com
7.
Jordan Press Association Expels Secretary General
Action bars Nidal Mansour from legally practicing his profession
New York, September 6, 2000-The Jordan Press Association (JPA) expelled its
secretary general, a weekly newspaper editor, from the organization
yesterday because of his work with a local press freedom group, according to
CPJ sources.
The action highlights the fact that despite King Abdullah's pledges to
promote press freedom, Jordanian journalists remain vulnerable to the
country's archaic press laws.
The JPA's decision to expel Nidal Mansour, editor of the weekly Al-Hadath
and head of the Center for Defending Freedom of Journalists (CDFJ), an
Amman-based organization that he founded, means Mansour is legally barred
from practicing journalism in Jordan. Both the JPA's bylaws and the Press
and Publications Law stipulate that Jordanian journalists must belong to the
JPA in order to work in the country.
In July, the JPA's disciplinary council launched an investigation against
Mansour, charging that he had violated press association bylaws by accepting
foreign funding for the CDFJ and by not working full time as a journalist.
After several hearings, the council recommended this week that Mansour be
suspended for a period of one year. The JPA governing body then increased
the punishment, decreeing a permanent ban. Mansour plans to appeal the
decision to Jordan's High Court of Justice.
"The JPA has once again demonstrated its utter disregard for basic press
freedom principles," said CPJ Mideast program coordinator Joel Campagna.
"It's past time for the government to remove the JPA's power to decide who
may and may not practice journalism in Jordan."
The JPA's expulsion of Mansour is the second such case in the past year. In
October 1999, the association expelled three journalists from its
ranks-Abdullah Hasanat of the English-language daily Jordan Times, Sultan
Hattab of the daily Al-Rai, and Jihad Momani of the daily Al-Dustour-for
violating JPA bylaws that prohibit so-called normalization with Israel. The
journalists were cited for having visited Israel to attend a seminar at
Haifa University.
The JPA reversed the decision in November 1999, announcing that all three
had "agreed to sign a statement proposed by the JPA ... stating that
fighting normalization with Israel was a necessity."
11. Disney Bans R-Rated Movie Ads Before 9 P.M. on ABC
Network
The Walt Disney Company announced that it would no longer
accept advertising for R-rated movies on any programs on its
ABC television network that are broadcast before 9 p.m.,
Eastern time.
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/13/national/13DISN.html
13. Spinning In His Grave? U.S. Media Silent As Leah Rabin
Slams Barak
By Jason Maoz
If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?
A huge tree of sorts fell in Israel last week, brought down by a most
unexpected pair of hands, but the only sound heard in the American media was
one of deafening silence.
Interviewed in Yediot Ahronot, Israel's most popular newspaper, Leah Rabin,
widow of assassinated prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, assailed the current
premier: " a man whose election and policies she once wholeheartedly
supported " with words dipped in vitriol.
Yitzhak is certainly spinning in his grave, Mrs. Rabin said in reference
to Ehud Barak's concessions on Jerusalem.
Yitzhak would never have agreed to compromise on the Old City and the
Temple Mount....I wanted to believe [Barak] is continuing along Yitzhak's path.
I backed him all the way. But after a year and a quarter I must confess, a big
part of my hopes has been disappointed.
Mrs. Rabin pronounced herself surprised by the willingness for concessions.
The willingness to make concessions in Jerusalem. Barak constantly stresses
how much his heart is with the settlers, how greatly he understands them,
while on the other hand he is ready for such concessions?
And she wryly added, ??oI read that they [the Palestinians] are willing to
give us sovereignty over the Jewish Quarter. I hear that maybe they will allow us
to pray at the Western Wall. Tell me, is this believable?
Barak offered a muted response to Mrs. Rabin's remarks, saying that he
respects her but is convinced he is doing the correct things for the
state of Israel.
The Rabin interview appeared in last Friday's Yediot and was immediately
picked up by several wire services, including Reuters, the Associated Press
and BBC Online. And then," a near total American media blackout.
With the notable exception of Sam Donaldson on ABC's This Week, nary a
word was spoken on the subject throughout the weekend on the network
newscasts, in the major and the not-so-major dailies and on the Sunday
morning talk shows.
The wall of silence stood in stark contrast to the media excitement that
greeted Mrs. Rabin??Ts every critical utterance directed against former prime
minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In fact, from the time of her husband??Ts assassination in 1995 right up until
last week??Ts anti-Barak fusillade, Mrs. Rabin was one of the most frequently
quoted Israelis in the American media ??" a remarkable distinction for a woman
never elected or appointed to any government office.
Among the many controversial and well-publicized statements made by Mrs.
Rabin in recent years were her sharp condemnations of Netanyahu for what she
claimed was his role in fomenting the climate that resulted in her husband??Ts
murder; her announcement, in the wake of Netanyahu's victory in 1996, that
she was prepared to pack her bags and leave the country; and her revelation
that, all things being equal, she preferred the company of Palestinian Arabs
to that of Orthodox Jews.
It was a different Leah Rabin, however, who unburdened herself to Yediot's
Sima Kadmon last week. A Leah Rabin who criticized Barak's negotiating
tactics: "Barak and Arafat sit together at Camp David and don't even meet?
It's impossible to reach an agreement with a man you hardly speak to" and
slammed his stance on Jerusalem.
Yitzhak would never compromise on the Temple Mount, nor on the Old City,
she said. This was taboo. He was born in Jerusalem. He fought in 1948 and
saw the battle for the Old City. He saw it fall and its people go into
captivity. How they left it divided. This was traumatic for him....He did not
overcome this trauma, and he never ceased being grateful that in 1967 he was
the army chief of staff who liberated it.
As Mrs. Rabin reflected on the liberation of Jerusalem, she recalled an
incident that left an enduring mark.
I remember the day on which the paratroopers reached the Wall in the Six-Day
War. We lived in Zahalah at the time. A Holocaust survivor lived across from
me. Every few minutes she would knock on the door and ask, Have we already
reached the Wall? Has the army already reached the Wall? In the evening I
left the house. The neighbor was standing at the corner. She took hold of my
hand. We were as dreamers, she said. We were as dreamers.
At that point in the conversation Mrs. Rabin began to weep. When her
interviewer expressed surprise at the show of emotion from such a famously
stoic woman, Mrs. Rabin acknowledged her deep-seated feelings.
Yes, she said, the moment was moving. The Temple Mount is in our
hands. Now they are trying to take it away from us? Occupied territory?!
Yitzhak always said that we would not return all the occupied
territories....He would not give up the Old City and the Temple Mount.
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