Israeli Paper Slammed For Column Suggesting Settlers And Allies ‘Worse Than Hezbollah’
Avigdor Lieberman Image by Wikimedia Commons
(JTA) — Israeli political leaders condemned an article in the liberal Israeli daily Haaretz saying Israel’s national religious community is “worse than Hezbollah.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Facebook Wednesday that the article is “shameful and disgraceful,” and called on the newspaper to apologize.
Education Minister Naftali Bennett, opposition leader Isaac Herzog and Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid also condemned the article. Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman on Thursday called on Israelis to boycott Haaretz, the Times of Israel reported.
The condemnations followed the publication on Wednesday of a column by Yossi Klein claiming that the national religious community seeks to take over the country and rid it of Arabs.
“The national religious are dangerous,” Klein wrote. “More dangerous than Hezbollah, more than drivers in car-ramming attacks or kids with scissors. The Arabs can be neutralized, but they cannot.”
Amos Schocken, the publisher of Haaretz, defended the article. “I can’t figure out what all the excitement is (Pavlovian, I must say) over Yossi Klein’s column,” Schocken wrote on Twitter.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
