Israel shuts down dovish radio station, critics allege muzzling

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"Israel has ordered the shutdown of a dovish Israeli-Palestinian radio station, officials and the station’s operators said on Sunday.

The station and other critics said the move was politically motivated, and part of a broader assault on democracy by conservative forces in the government.

Some members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition have pushed forward a series of measures recently that critics say are aimed at stifling opponents.

Among the proposed legislation are attempts to block most foreign funding for dovish nonprofit groups, lowering the threshold for politicians to file libel suits against the media, and a push to shift control of Supreme Court appointments from an independent panel to parliament.

Conservative lawmaker Danny Danon boasted that he had helped close the “All for Peace” radio station. Danon, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud Party, claimed the Communications Ministry shuttered the station at his request, after he claimed it “incited” against Israel.

“A radical leftist station that becomes an instrument of incitement must not be allowed to broadcast to the broader public,” Danon said."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/israel-shuts-down-dovish-radio-station-critics-allege-muzzling/2011/11/20/gIQA38GtdN_story.html

[azurnoir]

1. Netanyahu freezes bills to limit funds for Israeli human rights groups, sources say

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to freeze the parliamentary process that would ratify bills aimed at limiting foreign funding of Israeli human rights organizations, sources said on Saturday, a week after a Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved the bills.

According to the sources, Netanyahu decided to indefinitely postpone appeals submitted against the Ministerial Committee for Legislation's vote, meaning that Knesset members wont be able to ratify the bills.

<snip>

Speaking with Haaretz, officials said the "bills won't come up soon," adding that there are "dozens of appeals awaiting cabinet debate, designed to stall the promotion of bills, and this is one of them."

"As of right now there's no intention to hold a discussion about in cabinet meetings. Netanyahu will have to decide when and how – if at all – he would like to revive these bills. This also depends on the pressure he may face," the source added.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/netanyahu-freezes-bills-to-limit-funds-for-israeli-human-rights-groups-sources-say-1.396591

add to that the Netanyahu's decision not to back a bill concerning Supreme Court appointments

from the article

On Sunday, an official in Netanyahu’s office said the prime minister oppose a bill that would allow lawmakers to veto Supreme Court appointments. Conservatives say the court has a liberal bias.

and perhaps Danon is worried or wants to get even

[vminfla]

2. Reminds me of when Arutz Sheva was shut down

Pirate radio stations. Can you say "arrrrrrr"?

[Scurrilous]

3. Columnist tears into “criminal” gov’t before new law makes it illegal

<snip>

"The Knesset yesterday passed in first reading a bill which has been described by most of the Israeli media as “The silencing law”. Under the bill, which is an amendment to the existing defamation law, the maximum compensation in a libel suit will increase exponentially from NIS 50,000 (~$13,000) to NIS 300,000, a whopping $80,000. Most journalists I know in Israel make between $2,000 and $3,000 a month, tops.

But the bill’s real traps isn’t the sum of the fine. It carries a clause that says such lawsuits might be won without proof of damages; and another clause that stipulates a reporter must publish the comment of his subject in full. In other words, I can get sued for writing that the author of the bill is more dangerous to Israel’s future than Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah combined; and, if a newspaper wants to run a 300-words report suggesting a certain company is engaging in malpractice, it must also run the full comment of the company – even if it’s 5,000 words long. With the likely result the report will not run at all.

As damaging as the bill is, it’s not yet law and is still to go through a committee and at least one more vote in the assembly. Haaretz columnist and author Neri Livneh took advantage of it this morning in a Facebook status:

“Before the amendment to the defamation law enters the books, I’d just like to declare that this government, as a whole, is racist, Tzipi Livni, whose party tabled the bill, is a cowardly hypocrite, Barak is an even worse liar than Netanyahu, Avigdor Lieberman is a violent fascist, David Rotem (chair of the parliamentary Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, which will review the bill) is a piece of shit, and every politician who supported the bill has excellent reasons for doing so – deep inside they know they’re either criminals, liars or shits, and that only bad things will ever be written about them by honest reporters; that Israel is becoming a place no longer deserving decent, democratic and human rights supporting human beings, and that, like my father said in his latter years, “Herzl was wrong.” While we’re at it, the IDF is an occupying army and Israel routinely commits war crimes in the Occupied Territories.”

http://972mag.com/columnist-tears-into-criminal-govt-before-new-law-makes-it-illegal/28159/

[bemildred]

4. Well, that explains it. nt