After calling terrorists 'freedom fighters', Haaretz's Schocken issues lukewarm apology

As reported by Amit Segal, the publisher of Israel's super left-wing newspaper Haaretz, Schocken, made a very half-hearted apology. This was in response to his calling terrorists 'freedom fighters' in a speech in London, a remark that sparked an uproar all over Israel.

Not only did his remark cause widespread revulsion, but also they resulted in sanctions being issued against Haaretz:

As reported by JPost, "At least three ministries announced that they would end all cooperation with the Haaretz newspaper ... The three ministries were the Diaspora Affairs Ministry, the Interior Ministry, and the Education Ministry. Later on Thursday, they were joined by the Economy and Industry Ministry." 

As a result of the sanctions, he issued a very half-hearted lukewarm apology in which he said that he had reconsidered his words.

He did not retract his call for sanctions on the State of Israel, nor did he explain what he was referring to when he called terrorists 'freedom fighters'. Was he referring perhaps to Hamas in Judea-Samaria, to Islamic Jihad, or maybe to Hezbollah? No one knows.

Schocken's colleagues, Haaretz journalists released this joint statement, distancing themselves from Schocken's statement: "We, journalists at 'Haaretz' covering the war and its consequences, unequivocally oppose the notion that terrorists, regardless of their identity, should be considered freedom fighters,. Our position is that acts of murder and attacks against innocent people are not acceptable in any struggle."

Israel Realtime contributed to this article.