“Israeli” government cuts all ties with Haaretz for “freedom fighters” remark

The “Israeli” government has voted for a proposal to cut all ties with newspaper Haaretz after Amos Schocken –Haaretz’ publisher– for denouncing Netanyahu’s government fight against what he called “Palestinian freedom fighters”.

Schocken said “The Netanyahu government doesn't care about imposing a cruel apartheid regime on the Palestinian population. It dismisses the costs of both sides for defending the settlements while fighting the Palestinian freedom fighters that Israel calls terrorists” at the Haaretz conference in London last month.

The proposal, which mandates that any government-funded body refrain from communicating with Haaretz or advertising in the paper, was put forward by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi and approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after a unanimous vote at the weekly cabinet meeting.

Schocken also argued that “Israel” was ignoring UN resolutions declaring that West Bank settlements are illegal.

"Not only did they continue building settlements, but the present government also supports the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from parts of the occupied territories. In a sense, what is taking place now in the occupied territories and in part of Gaza is a second Nakba of sending, creating refugees, even people who lived in the occupied territories in Area C and the people who live in the north part of Gaza," he added.

He added that "a Palestinian state must be established, and the only way to achieve this, I think, is to apply sanctions against Israel's leader, against the leaders who oppose it, and against the settlers who are in the occupied territories in contravention of international law."