Mick Hartley

Anyone who follows Israeli news knows that Haaretz is on the left. But this far left?

At least three Israeli government ministries have announced they will be terminating all cooperation and advertising with Israel’s most prestigious left-wing newspaper after the group’s publisher accused Israel of “apartheid” and described Palestinian terrorists as “freedom fighters” during an event in London.

Amos Schocken, the head of the Haaretz Group and Haaretz publisher, said in a speech that Israel has a government “that opposes a Palestinian state, and instead, the Netanyahu government wants to continue to encourage illegal settlements in the territories designated for a [future] Palestinian state.

The sold-out panel event, which took place at JW3, included much of Haaretz’s senior editorial team alongside a number of Jewish organisation heads, academics, and politicians.

“It does not care [about] applying a brutal apartheid regime on the Palestinian people,” he said.

Shocken also said Palestinian terrorists were “freedom fighters” and called for sanctions to be placed on Israel’s leaders.

Fallout in Israel over the incendiary comments led to calls from multiple government bodies to suspend their respective publishing and advertising in the daily newspaper.

Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, the Interior Ministry, and the Education Ministry all announced their intention to cut ties with the publication.

Avi Cohen-Skali, director general of the Diaspora Affairs Ministry, said the department would “suspend all existing agreements” with Haaretz and halt any future partnerships, charging Shocken’s words as “extreme, baseless, and false,”

Describing “those who killed, raped, and butchered our people freedom fighters” amounted to “words of incitement straight out of the playbook of the greatest enemies of the State of Israel,” he said.

Astonishing. 

But of course…

Upon arriving at the JW3 building on Sunday, the mostly Jewish audience were met by an anti-Israel protest outside that chanted “Palestine is not your home” and that they were “genocide supporters”.

The crowd, numbering around 150, stood directly outside the Jewish community centre holding signs accusing Israel of terrorism and genocide. One protester was arrested, according to police.