“The missiles might have stopped for now, but a struggle over democracy and free speech will intensify – a war over what kind of country Israel will be when the sirens stop,” Haaretz cautioned in a marketing email to subscribers this month entitled “The war may have paused but the fight over Israel’s future is only beginning.”
A separate email days earlier, under the heading “Stand behind independent journalism,” urged contributors to help provide students with free Haaretz content, arguing:
Because the next generation is forming its understanding of this region in real time. They deserve more than noise. More than slogans. They deserve reporting that challenges, clarifies, and refuses to simplify what shouldn’t be simplified.
But, instead of clarifying, Haaretz‘s recent reporting on a free speech issue has only confounded.
Thus, a page 2 article in the April 24 English-language print edition wrongly reported that it is illegal in Israel to display the Palestinian flag (“Nakba Day march canceled, for second year in a row”). The article erred, stating that bans on displaying Palestinian flags at previous “Nakba Day” marches “reflected increased enforcement of the prohibition since Itamar Ben-Gvir became national security minister.” [Emphasis added.]
In fact, it is not illegal to display the Palestinian flag in Israel, as better reflected in the reporting of the digital edition, in both English and Hebrew, which reported:
The latter reflected stepped-up enforcement against flying the flag since Itamar Ben-Gvir took over as national security minister, even though the courts haven’t ruled on whether flying the flag is illegal.
While this wording is an improvement because it does not contain the outright falsehood that displaying the Palestinian flag is prohibited, it introduces a separate error about the courts’ rulings on the matter. In fact, according to the Association of Civil Rights in Israel, the courts have ruled that displaying the Palestinian flag is not illegal:
As early as 1994, the Supreme Court rejected a petition seeking to prosecute those who waved the flag and remove them from the public sphere (HCJ 5883/93 Yahalom v. Israel Police Commissioner). In 2003, the High Court of Justice recognized the national significance of the flag as a sign of the Palestinian people’s identity at large, and annulled the Central Election Committee Chair’s decision to omit sections of the United Arab List and National Democratic Alliance’s campaign broadcasts, in which the Palestinian flag was displayed. The court ruled that it is solely permissible to restrict the flag’s display in broadcasts that present it in such a manner that may cause genuine, deep, and grave harm to public sentiment in Israel among those who might watch the broadcasts, especially those harmed by acts of terror” (HCJ 651/03 ACRI v. Chair of the 16th Knesset’s Central Election Committee). Just one year ago (2021), the Magistrate’s Court ruled in a hearing on a police request to pursue the arrest of a demonstrator who waved the Palestinian flag that “waving the Palestinian flag does not constitute an offense per Israel’s book of laws,” and ordered his release (Bail Hearing Request 334146-09-21 State of Israel v. The Marshal)
Separately, in a significant omission, at no point does a page five article also from the April 24 English print edition, “Lebanese journalists killed, another severely wounded in IDF airstrike,” report that Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil worked for the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Akhbar newspaper.
As the Alma Research and Education Center reported:
Contrary to its portrayal as an independent media outlet, Al-Akhbar serves as a mouthpiece for Hezbollah and functions as part of its media apparatus. Its editor, Ibrahim Al-Amin, is closely associated with and serves as an advisor to senior Hezbollah figures.
Haaretz‘s corresponding digital article, in contrast, rightly makes clear in the subheadline: “Amal Khalil, a journalist for Hezbollah-affiliated Al Akhbar . . . “
As of this writing, Haaretz editors have yet to correct its print edition on the legality of displaying the Palestinian flag and to clarify on Khalil’s employment at the Hezbollah-affiliated newspaper. In addition, the paper has not yet corrected its digital edition which misreported that the courts haven’t yet ruled on the legality of the Palestinian flag.
Shlomi Ben-Meir contributed research to this post. For the Hebrew version of this post, see CAMERA Hebrew.