Haaretz (Opinion) Media Bias

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Who knew Itamar Ben-Gvir was quite the feminist

Sometimes remarks have a thin veneer – like the film on a scratch-off lottery ticket, for example. All it takes is a little scraping to see what’s really underneath. What does National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir mean when he talks about “harsher penalties for sex crimes in a nationalistic and racist context?” If one were to emphasize the phrase in that statement that Ben-Gvir considers the most important, would it be “sex crimes?”
Haaretz (Opinion)     Jan 12, 2023

Israel's far-right government is erasing the Oslo Accords

finance

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich want to go back to the occupation’s early days. They want to erase the remnants of the Oslo Accords, cancel the existence of the Palestinian Authority and the division into Areas A, B and C, manage the Palestinians’ education systems, sewage and water through appointed municipal councils, return all of Hebron to direct Israeli rule – and after that perhaps appoint military governors to issue permits for movement, work, study and car licensing.
Haaretz (Opinion)     Jan 12, 2023

Israel went from 'broad consensus' to civil war

politics

Clause 5 in the current coalition agreement states: “The government will work to reach broad consensus with the people on the controversial changes.” Based on the first weeks of the government’s operation, this clause seems to be cosmetic, lacking anything of substance behind it.
Haaretz (Opinion)     Jan 12, 2023

It will end in bloodshed

politics

The attempt to run over anti-government protesters in Be’er Sheva cannot be separated from the spirit of political persecution emanating from the Netanyahu-Ben-Gvir government. On Tuesday, a demonstration was held outside Ben-Gurion University during which participants chanted slogans protesting the government and its planned judicial overhaul.
Haaretz (Opinion)     Jan 11, 2023

Gender: A key battleground in Israel's fight against the illiberal state

In Hungary, Russia and Turkey, exhausted activists fight a repressive, powerful state for basic rights they used to take for granted. Israel's progressive forces should learn from their experience – and fast
Haaretz (Opinion)     Jan 11, 2023

Changing the justice system is Israel's second great political upheaval

politics

I learned of Yariv Levin’s existence from the former president of Israel’s Bar Association, Shlomo Cohen. Cohen, an enlightened and liberal jurist who was often embroiled in disputes with his colleagues in the association, described Levin as an extreme right-wing person from the association’s Tel-Aviv branch. He claimed that Levin was a person with a single speech which he delivered repeatedly, calling for the total overhaul of the state’s justice system.
Haaretz (Opinion)     Jan 11, 2023

The judges of Israel shall corrupt the country

Judges in Israel are appointed by a committee consisting of two ministers, two Members of Knesset, two representatives of the Israel Bar Association and three Supreme Court justices. This makeup ensures that all branches of government are represented, as well as lawyers who know the judges and their level of professionalism.
Haaretz (Opinion)     Jan 11, 2023

Has Smotrich learned his fiscal lesson?

It was an assault that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich did not expect. Benzion Mutzafi, a well-known arbiter of Jewish law associated with the Sephardic ultra-Orthodox Shas party, harshly criticized the newly minted minister’s decision to lower taxes on sweetened drinks.
Haaretz (Opinion)     Jan 11, 2023

Who will deal with the traumas of Arab children?

At the start of the new year we are always asked to write happy thoughts, make wishes, imagine ourselves developing new habits. Maybe we’ll practice yoga? Maybe we’ll start going to the beach early in the morning? Watch the sunrise and again – imagine.
Haaretz (Opinion)     Jan 09, 2023

Fight fascism, but also the occupation

There is a very large camp in Israel that opposes the new government, and that is a good thing. The first test of all anti-fascist forces is to unite, this is a universal principle that transcends time. You set the primary goal, and subordinate all other goals to it. Does this principle apply to the political system in Israel? That is a large and complex question.
Haaretz (Opinion)     Jan 09, 2023

Erdogan is in deep trouble. This is his ruthless survival plan

politics

Last month, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that he will seek one final term when the country goes to the polls in June. If successful, Erdogan will have spent 26 years at the helm of Turkish politics, having been prime minister in 2002 and then president in 2014.
Haaretz (Opinion)     Jan 09, 2023

The big lie at the heart of Netanyahu's extremist government

Israel’s new government was less than one a week old when incoming Justice Minister Yariv Levin of Likud announced what he promised would be the first round of blows to the much maligned Israeli judicial system. He and the coalition partners call them “necessary reforms.”
Haaretz (Opinion)     Jan 09, 2023