Lapid responds to Amos Shocken: "A half-hearted apology, didn't help much"

The head of the opposition, Knesset member Yair Lapid, addressed a question from Srugim regarding his opinion on the statements made by the publisher of Haaretz, Amos Schocken, about Hamas murderers being freedom fighters.

The Haaretz publishers horrific anti-Israel comments have caused major controversy over the past days causing a wave of boycotting of the well known Israeli Left-wing news company. With Haaretz now facing massive losses on all fronts and hundreds of subscribers no longer wanting to read their reports following the horrendous comments of Schocken.

Lapid condemned the remarks and said: "I vehemently condemn this shocking statement, it is intolerable and unforgivable, and the half-hearted apology afterwards didn't help much either."

As a reminder, a few days ago, Schocken apologized for his words and published a clarification statement in which he wrote: "I reconsidered what I said. Many freedom fighters around the world, throughout history, and perhaps even in the process of establishing the State of Israel, have also committed shocking and horrific terrorist acts and harmed innocent people to achieve their goals."

Schocken continued and explained that he misspoke and that he would change his words now: "I should have said: Freedom fighters who also resort to terrorist methods need to be fought against." Using terrorism is not legitimate."

It seems a legitimate apology is too much to ask from the Haaretz publisher and that he indeed stands by calling Hamas terrorists 'freedom fighters.' Which, coming from a reporter of a well known Israeli news channel is simply horrific and particularly disgusting following the massacre of October 7th.