Say No to the Gag Order

The freedom of the press in Israel is under attack. No less. I can't elaborate because of a gag order on the case. I'm pretty sure the authorities wouldn't do anything against a lowly, almost completely unread blogger like myself, but I still won't risk it. All I can say for now is something that I'm pretty sure doesn't fall under the gag order: an Israeli journalist has fled the country and will not return until authorities guarantee he will not be prosecuted. Sounds bad enough, doesn't it? Unfortunately, that's not all of it.

On April 12 the supreme court will hear Israeli media outlets' arguments in favor of allowing the press to report on this matter. Their main argument will certainly be that the Israeli public has a right to hear about this. It might have some aspects that should not be revealed because of national security, but most of the info should be out there - including the names of people involved. A second argument would be that foreign media has already reported this story and any Israeli with an internet connection (which is almost everybody) can find it all on-line, as I have. Israel's leading newspaper, Yediot Aharonot, even published an article decrying the gag order without giving any details, except for telling people to google "Israeli journalist gag" (in English).

I believe the supreme court will remove the gag order. I see it as the only option, if our democracy and freedom of the press is still strong.

It's hard to describe why this gag order and the whole case behind it is so undemocratic without going into details, so I guess I'll just have to to wait until I'll be able to say whatever I want.

Update (April 8): The gag order has been removed. See my newer post on the matter for details on the Anat Kam-Uri Blau Security Affair (yes, I can name them now).