By Amnon Ben-Yehuda
SAN DIEGO — Americans have an information gap on Israel. I keep up with events and news from Israel by logging in daily to the Hebrew version of the Israeli papers Ha’aretz and Yediott. Between the two I can read opinions by columnists ranging the political spectrum but with emphasis to the center. Occasionally Ialso log in to the Jerusalem Post (English language only) which has a distinct orientation to the right.
Last night I read a most disturbing story by columnist Sefi Rachlevsky writing in the daily Ha’aretz, titled “The Israeli prime minister is unfit to serve “.
He first recalls how in the summer of 1983 Prime Minister Menachem Begin became unfit to govern while the government ministers and chiefs of military and security kept it a secret from the public. Mr. Begin finally resigned, stating “I can no longer handle this,” and spent the rest of his life in isolation at home .
The columnist claims Israel again has a Prime Minister, Mr. Netanyahu, who is unfit to govern. Government ministers and military and security chiefs all recognize it, yet are keeping it to themselves.
His public criticism of Mr. Obama, his unprecedented direct involvement in the American presidential campaign supporting Mr. Romney, his public disagreement with U.S. strategy on the Iran nuclear issue, and trying to force the U.S. into a war prior to the election, it’s all his own personal doing. The entire Israeli political, diplomatic and security leadership is against his actions. Yet, he has the power to cause terrible damage!
Just in the past week we witnessed actions and public statements by Israel’s Foreign Office, by Israel’s ambassador to the USA and by AIPAC, aimed at softening the damage caused by Mr. Netanyahu.
Back to the Information Gap.
Upon reading the damning column in Ha’aretz I wanted to distribute its English version to my English speaking friends, so I signed on to Ha’aretz.com, the English web site. The column was there in English, but ……. not for free! One has to subscribe and pay a fee before accessing the column.
So, the American Jewish public is being denied free access to the most critical and independent source of information on Israeli issues. The unintended consequences is an American Jewish public opinion being shaped largely by limited information from CNN, Fox, local press and AIPAC.
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Ben-Yehuda is a freelance writer based in San Diego