IP: Israel,Arutz 7 and the Internet

[Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

>Date: Wed, 29 Dec 1999 14:58:57 -0500
>To: farber@cis.upenn.edu
>From: Richard Mandelbaum <rma@appliedtheory.com>
>
>
>Dave, I think the attached should be of interst both to you and many other
>readers of the IP list.
>This is an almost classic example of a government , that of Israel, and the
>State Prosecutors Office attempting to close down sources of information
>which they disagree with.
>
>The state prosecutuon office is annoyed with Arutz-7 for publishing a
>transcript of a conversation between the Prosecution Office and the Israel
>Security Services which showed complicity between the two in a cover up of
>the activities of a Security Services agent provacateur.
>
>The current Israeli government ,which essentially controls all of the print
>and broadcast media in Israel is very unhappy at the existence of a channel
>of alternative news. This is primarily an Internet channel and the raid on
>the  Beit-El Studios which have primary responsibility for Internet based
>content distribution as a way to stop, recently legalized,  spectrum-based
>broadcasts from a ship at sea would be almost ludicrous if it were not so
>scary.
>
>Dave, I have been very much involved with the Internet in Israel for about
>15 years, providing the Israel University Consortium with its first
>Internet connection to the US in the late 80's and helping the Israel
>Foreign Ministry get onto to the Internet about 8-9 years ago.
>What is happening there as regards the ability to propagate information
>which disagrees with the government line is truly shocking
>
>Best Regards
>
>Richard
>
>
>
> >X-Sender: neteditor@mail.a7.org
> >Date: Tue, 28 Dec 1999 18:49:31 +0200
> >To: arutz-7@ArutzSheva.org
> >From: Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@ArutzSheva.org>
> >Subject: Arutz-7 news: Tuesday, December 28, 1999
> >Mime-Version: 1.0
> >X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by rina.torah.org id
> >LAA09248
> >Sender: owner-arutz-7@a7.org
> >Precedence: bulk
> >Reply-To: netnews@a7.org
> >
>
> >TODAY'S HEADLINES:
> >  1. POLICE RAID ARUTZ-7
> >  2. REACTIONS
> >  3. RALLY TONIGHT
>
> >1. POLICE RAID ARUTZ-7
> >Hundreds of policemen stormed Arutz-7's offices and studios in Beit El at
> >9:30 this morning, in an attempt to shut down the broadcasts and confiscate
> >the station's equipment.  For over two hours, the police wrenched out
> >soundboard consoles, computers, and other equipment, leaving extensive
> >damage in their wake.  They deposited these at the front entrance to the
> >station, but did not attempt to transfer them to their waiting vans, as
> >close to 1,000 residents of Beit El and other communities had gathered on
> >the narrow street outside.  The crowd, including many dozens of students of
> >the nearby schools and yeshivot, intermittently sang, danced, and shouted
> >"Police State!"
> >
> >Arutz-7 technicians continue to work intensively to appraise and repair the
> >damage caused to doors, computers, broadcast consoles, and wiring.  All of
> >the internet department's computers were operating within 4-5 hours after
> >the raid, and the live internet broadcast of Arutz-7 was back on the air by
> >1 PM.  The police were unable, despite repeated attempts, to break down the
> >doors of one of the station's floors, containing a make-shift studio.
> >Regular broadcasts continue from that studio; of the four damaged ones,
> >highest priority will be given to repairing the Russian-language studio.
> >During the course of the raid, Internet Director Baruch Gordon was lightly
> >injured, requiring eight stitches in his hand, and student Aharon Amram of
> >N'vei Tzuf had his hand broken.
> >
> >Communications Ministry representative Chanan Golan, who was present during
> >the police action today, told Arutz-7 broadcasters that the raid was
> >initiated not by his office, but by the State Prosecution and the
> >Attorney-General.  Jerusalem Magistrates Court Justice Rafael Yaakobi
> >signed the court order, after approving the State Prosecution's request for
> >the warrant.  When the police showed the search-and-confiscation court
> >orders this morning, Arutz-7 management explained that these were based on
> >false information, and that the Knesset had passed legislation almost a
> >year ago permitting the station to broadcast.
> >
> >Some two hours after the raid began, Samaria and Judea Police District
> >Commander Yitzchak Aharonovitch arrived on the scene.  After meeting with
> >Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed - the station's Chairman of the Board and Rosh
> >Yeshivat Beit El - Aharonovitch announced the sudden end of the police
> >operation.  At approximately 11:45 AM, Rabbi Melamed used a megaphone to
> >inform the crowd gathered outside, "The police are trying to do their work
> >honorably, but we have a problem with the Communications Ministry.   We
> >have come to an agreement, and the equipment is all staying here.  Please
> >permit the policemen to leave here with honor."
> >
> >Yaakov (Ketzaleh) Katz, speaking on Arutz-7's newsmagazine today, said:
> >       "Police Commander Aharonovitch is a smart man, and after a short
> >time he
> >realized that he was sorely misled.  He saw that there are no transmitters
> >here - even though we are allowed to have them here and use them - but he
> >found nothing of the sort...
> >       "I think that what happened here today is a mark of shame for Prime
> >Minister Barak and for Public Security Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, who claims
> >to be a man of democracy - but what happened here was not democracy, but
> >dictatorship, pure and simple... In the end, with the help of G-d, they
> >finally left, and apologized, and it was agreed that they would say that
> >they had succeeded in stopping the broadcasts - even though the broadcasts
> >continued throughout, because we simply phoned over to the ship.  Their
> >claim that we are an illegal station is simply not true, especially after
> >the passing of the Arutz-7 law in the Knesset, and that's why Beilin and
> >Communications Ministry officials are making intense efforts to pass a
> >different law..."
> >
> >Ketzaleh announced that following the tremendous financial damages caused
> >the station by the police violence, Arutz-7 will hold a marathon
> >fund-raising broadcast this coming Thursday and Friday.  Outpourings of
> >support, via phone calls, faxes, and e-mails, have already been received at
> >Arutz-7.
> >
> >An excerpt from Aharonovitch's hastily-called press conference:
> >"The warrant was issued at the request of the Communications Ministry, and
> >we were simply carrying out this order.  We have fulfilled our mission of
> >stopping the station's broadcasts, and we are therefore leaving."
> >Reporter: "But listen, you can hear the broadcasts on the radio right now -
> >the antennas are not here, they are on the ship.  Arutz-7 is still
> >broadcasting."
> >Aharonovitch:  "Our mission was to stop the broadcasts here in Beit El.  If
> >they have other channels, this is not my problem."  [The afternoon
> >newsmagazine was broadcast from Beit El as usual, from the lone operative
> >make-shift studio, at 1 PM.]
> >
> >Veteran Arutz-7 broadcaster Adir Zik spoke to the hundreds of Beit El
> >residents and students who came to show their support of the station this
> >morning.  After a rousing round of his show's theme song, "You Won't Defeat
> >Me So Quickly," the crowd settled down to hear his speech.  Excerpts:
> >       "When I used to remark that the State of Israel is turning into a
> >Bolshevik state, I was called 'radical and extreme...' - but here we
> >plainly see that with a court order one morning, the police can just come
> >in and raid Arutz-7.  Make no mistake about it: This is a struggle for the
> >future of this land! They are simply trying to shut our mouths!...  Truth
> >has tremendous strength, and try as they might, they cannot vanquish our
> >faith.  The age of internet and instant communications has arrived, and
> >Arutz-7's Kobi Sela has just broadcast a news report [via] the ship in the
> >middle of the Mediterranean [in the midst of the police attempts to shut
> >down the station]...  Don't think for a moment that this is a legal issue.
> >It's intimately connected to the political goings-on at present. They are
> >simply trying to shut us up."  Zik later said, "Arutz-7 has been
> >responsible for a revolution in its media message and in its success at
> >disseminating Torah in Israel and throughout the world.  It is part of a
> >wider society that sends its daughters to Sherut Leumi (National Service)
> >and its sons to the top IDF combat units, of people who have been able to
> >live a completely observant life while fully participating in modern
> >society.  This is the deeper level of the conflict:  Because of the high
> >quality of Arutz-7's news and other programming, because we insist on fully
> >participating in the society - this has the establishment, the media, and
> >the political establishment eating its heart out."
> >
> >Reporters from Israeli television stations were at the scene.  They
> >protested the fact that they were not allowed to enter the building, and a
> >Channel Two reporter said, "I access Arutz-7's internet site every day for
> >scoops.  It's important to make this information and these pictures
> >available to the public, to see what the police came and did here!"
> >
> >2. REACTIONS
> >Deputy Minister of Education Sha'ul Yahalom said that there is no iota of
> >truth to the police allegations that Arutz-7's broadcasts ever disturbed
> >airport radio transmissions.  Yahalom, speaking as a former Minister of
> >Transportation, was reacting to statements by Police Investigations Chief
> >Supt. Yossi Sitbon, who said that the police raid was carried out because
> >of such disturbances.
> >
> >MK Rabbi Benny Elon (National Union), a resident of Beit El, who was also
> >on the scene together with party colleague and leading Arutz-7 proponent MK
> >Tzvi Hendel, said, "The truth is that I think the police were led astray by
> >Chanan Golan of the Communications Ministry and Attorney-General Elyakim
> >Rubenstein, who have an obsession [with Arutz-7]."
> >
> >MK Rabbi Chaim Druckman (NRP) said, "The police raid on Arutz-7 is an
> >anti-democratic scandal, an attempt to shut the mouths of the nationalist
> >camp, the likes of which is only seen in the darkest regimes."  He
> >recommended that his party, which reached a budget agreement with the
> >government only two days ago, vote against the budget in protest of the
> >raid.  Other NRP Knesset Members said that the raid was an attempt to
> >silence those who object to a withdrawal from the Golan Heights.
> >
> >MK Uzi Landau (Likud):  "This raid was a manifestation of State Prosecution
> >violence."  MK David Azulai (Shas):  "This is a leftist government that
> >will do anything to shut mouths."
> >
> >The Yesha Council announced that the Ehud Barak government is defiling the
> >rule of law via the shutting of its political opponents' mouth.  Professors
> >for a Strong Israel called upon the government to cease its anti-democratic
> >actions.
> >
> >Atty. Mordechai Haller:
> >"There is a general principle that when a legislature legalizes a certain
> >behavior, all legal prosecution against this behavior is halted, and new
> >proceedings against it are certainly not begun.  The Attorney-General
> >simply decides that it is not in the public interest to prosecute these
> >matters... In this case, the legislature has passed a law legalizing
> >Arutz-7; the law has not gone into effect yet, though, such that this is a
> >classic case in which the Attorney-General would normally exercise his
> >discretion not to prosecute...  All the above concerns the radio.  But the
> >internet department has absolutely nothing to do with this.  The
> >publication of internet news is no different than any other completely
> >legal behavior by Arutz-7 staff, such as preparing a cup of coffee.  If an
> >Arutz-7 employee prepares a cup of coffee, the police cannot come and
> >arrest him - just like they cannot do so for the equally-innocent act of
> >sending news over the internet...  If a judge gave a ruling to confiscate
> >all the equipment in a building used for allegedly illegal broadcasts, when
> >the police knew perfectly well that some of the equipment is not used for
> >broadcasts at all, then that order should never have been given?  I think
> >it's shocking that a judge would give an order that was so sweeping... I
> >think the police probably misled the judge in that they did not give him
> >the full picture?"
> >
> >Yisrael Medad, head of Israel's Media Watch:
> >"I think that this raid was a very foolish move that puts Mr. Barak on the
> >defensive, because he can be seen as approaching dictatorship.  We know
> >that during the previous Labor administration of Mr. Rabin, some moves on
> >his part led him to being perceived as someone not interested in the rule
> >of law and citizens' democratic rights to express themselves...  I think
> >that Arutz-7 represents a very strong body politic, an important
> >representative of a major cultural and religious element in Israeli 
> society."
> >
> >3. RALLY TONIGHT
> >Women in Green announced a rally for this evening, in protest of the raid
> >on Arutz-7.  "In an attempt to assure approval by the voting public in the
> >upcoming referendum on whatever Golan Agreement is reached with Syria," the
> >organization announced, "Prime Minister Barak ruthlessly moved this morning
> >to close down the only effective opposing media source to his policies,
> >Arutz-7 Radio...  Arutz-7 has had free and open discussion, informing the
> >public of Barak's subservience to Clinton, and the many faults and failures
> >of his policies..."  The rally will be held at 7:30 PM opposite the Yakar
> >educational institute at 10 HaLamed-He St. in Jerusalem, where Atty.-Gen.
> >Elyakim Rubenstein is scheduled to speak on "Law and Democracy."
> >
> >Readers who would like to send their comments on today's events to various
> >public figures are invited to find their fax numbers and e-mail addresses at
> ><http//www.arutzsheva.org/English/newspaper/ondisplay/ref/faxes.htm>.
> >
>
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>President & CEO                 Fax:  516.466.8650
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A Happy Holiday and a safe New Year

from Dave and GG Farber

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