After the Hamas terror organization used an article published Haaretz newspaper to spread its lies, and due to consistent spreading of materials which harm the State of Israel, Communications Minister Dr. Shlomo Karhi submitted a proposal to the government to end all funding of Haaretz, including an end to all advertisements and subscriptions of all users in civil service – including the IDF, the Israel Police, the Prison Service, government ministries, and every government company.
The explanatory preamble to the proposal reads: “Haaretz newspaper takes an offensive line, subverting the goals of the war and weakening the military effort and our social strength. The end of the acquisition of services from Haaretz newspaper by government bodies will reduce the serious harm Israeli citizens feel not just from the things published in the paper, but that they are obligated to fund it with their tax money.”
Karhi then explained the rationale for such a step: ”The State of Israel is a customer of the paper, and the government has the authority to decide that it is uninterested in being the customer of a paper which undermines the State of Israel in wartime and undermines the spirit of Israeli soldiers and its residents in their stand against the enemy.”
Minister Karhi continued: “At a time when our soldiers are bravely fighting Hamas-ISIS for our homeland, and while the Israeli government is working against hostile media outlets harming state security, it cannot be that an Israeli paper continue to be funded in large part by the Israeli public while serving as the megaphone of incitement for the enemies of Israel. Propaganda in the service of the enemy and presenting the narrative of our enemies, while presenting lies, using anti-Zionist and anti-Israel terminology and justifying the enemy must not occupy a place among our ranks. This is our legal right and moral duty to the citizens of Israel and the soldiers of the IDF.”
Hamas Used a Haaretz Article for Propaganda
At the beginning of the week, Hamas held a press conference on Sunday showing a tweet from the Haaretz site, per which some of those killed at the Re’im Party Massacre were victims of friendly fire from a helicopter.
According to Hamas: “Those who killed the participants at the party were the Israeli occupation. They were aware of the existence of the party and the occupation authorities are the ones who organized it.”
This comes due to reports in Haaretz per which a police investigation showed that Hamas aimed to reach Kibbutz Re’im and other settlements and learned of the party in realtime. Haaretz also quoted a source which said an IDF helicopter fired at terrorists during the massacre and appears to have hit some of the partygoers.
In the wake of these events, the Police issued a clarification that “the initial inquiry focused on the heroism of the officers who operated on site and the functioning of the Israel Police to stop the massacre carried out by Hamas. And contrary to the report in Haaretz newspaper, the police inquiry does not address the activity of IDF forces and as such no indication was given of harm to civilians due to aerial activity on site. Precisely in this time, we call on media outlets to show responsibility in reports and base themselves solely on official sources.”