https://www.jns.org/piers-morgan-candace-owens-and-haaretz/
The International Federation of Journalists was disturbed last month when the Israeli Cabinet voted to cut all financial ties with Haaretz, the country’s self-described “paper of record” with a proud, far-left bent.
“We are extremely concerned over Israel’s authoritarian drift that undermines media pluralism and the public’s right to know,” Anthony Bellanger, the IFJ general secretary. responded to the move. “The IFJ urges the government to review its decision and stop damaging press freedom in the country by boycotting a newspaper. We express our solidarity with Haaretz journalists.”
It’s typical of the IFJ to decry Israeli policies as antithetical to Western values. You know, like the time it blasted the Jewish state for “targeting” Al Jazeera reporters. Never mind that those paragons of the press were affiliated with Hamas and participated in the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre.
And forget the fact that its depiction of the measure adopted in relation to Haaretz is totally false. Canceling subscriptions to and pulling ads from a publication over its content do not violate freedom. On the contrary, they constitute consumer prerogatives.
Furthermore, Haaretz has only itself to blame for its waning readership, as its open anti-Zionism is too much for even many liberal Israelis to tolerate. This is especially true in the wake of Oct. 7 and the paper’s extremist positions on Israel’s defensive seven-front war.
The last straw for the government—and its purse strings—was publisher Amos Schocken’s appalling performance at a conference in London at the end of October, sponsored by Haaretz, in conjunction with JW3-Jewish Community Centre London, New Israel Fund U.K., Yachad, A Land for All and Standing Together.
During his speech at the event—titled “Israel After October 7th: Allied or Alone?”—Schocken smeared his country with lies its enemies love to hear.
