Israel has officially cut ties with the Haaretz newspaper after its publisher "expressed support for terrorism" and called for Israel's government to be sanctioned.
The government unanimously approved a proposal Sunday to cut ties that was constructed by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, which called on the Israeli government and those funded by it to "cease to engage with the newspaper Haaretz in any way and not publish any advertisements in it."
The vote came Sunday at the end of the weekly agenda meeting, The Jerusalem Post reported, citing Karhi's statement that added: "following numerous articles that harmed the legitimacy of the State of Israel in the world and its right to self-defense, particularly in light of the recent statements by the publisher of Haaretz, Amos Schocken, who expressed support for terrorism and called for sanctions against the government at the newspaper's conference in London."
Schocken reportedly made pro-terrorism, anti-Israel statements, according to Karhi's statement, including: "Palestinian terrorists are freedom fighters and sanctions should be imposed on the Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] and Ministers [Bezalel] Smotrich and [Itamar] Ben-Gvir"; and "the Netanyahu government does not care about imposing a cruel apartheid regime on the Palestinian population."
Schocken's speech reportedly had slightly different words paraphrased by Karhi, according to the report:
"The Netanyahu government wants to continue and intensify illegal settlement in the territories that were meant for a Palestinian state. It doesn't care about imposing a cruel apartheid regime on the Palestinian population. It dismisses the costs of both sides for defending the settlements while fighting the Palestinian freedom fighters that Israel calls terrorists.
While Israel has long noted there have been terrorist ties to UNRWA, a Gaza humanitarian aid organization that was found to have members who allegedly aided in the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israel, Schocken also expressed support for United Nations against Israel:
"Not only did they continue building settlements, but the present government also supports the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from parts of the occupied territories. In a sense, what is taking place now in the occupied territories and in part of Gaza is a second Nakba of sending, creating refugees, even people who lived in the occupied territories in Area C and the people who live in the northern part of Gaza.
"A Palestinian state must be established, and the only way to achieve this, I think, is to apply sanctions against Israel's leader, against the leaders who oppose it, and against the settlers who are in the occupied territories in contravention of international law.
"Zionism is still a justified idea for the Jewish people, but the conduct of successive Israeli governments has distorted its meaning beyond recognition. Israel needs to be put back on the right path, and unfortunately, the main way to do it, I think now, is by international pressure."
Having Israel helping to support and fund a newspaper working against its interests and for its enemies during a war must end, according to Karhi.
"It is unacceptable for the publisher of an official newspaper in the State of Israel to call for sanctions against it and support the state's enemies in the midst of a war, while international bodies harm the legitimacy of the State of Israel, its right to self-defense, and actually impose sanctions, including criminal sanctions, against it and against its leaders," Karhi concluded.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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