At a recent conference held in London by Israel’s longest-running newspaper, Haaretz, the publisher Amos Schocken – who is known for his critical stance towards Israel’s treatment of Palestinians – argued that the Palestinians who are defined by Israel as terrorists are, in fact, freedom fighters. Schocken also claimed that Israel is running a brutal apartheid regime against the Palestinian people and called for sanctions to be imposed on the Israeli leadership.
His words shocked many in Israel, where people are still in grief over the terror attack of October 7 2023, in which Hamas murdered 1,200 Israelis. In response, the Israeli government announced it would halt all government advertising in the newspaper and ban government bodies from commenting in its pages.
This is not the first time that Haaretz, with just 5% of newspaper circulation in Israel, has caused outrage in its home market. In a 2013 article, reporter Amira Hass justified throwing stones at Jewish people on the West Bank, writing that: “Throwing stones is the birthright and duty of anyone subject to foreign rule.”
