Yidioth Ahronoth vs Israel Hayom

By Dror Eydar, ISRAEL HAYOM

Why does Lieberman legislate for Yedioth?

The disgraceful measure called the anti-Israel Hayom bill passed its first legislative hurdle Wednesday, in what was a shameful day for the Knesset. The vote will be remembered for the unholy alliance of MKs, each of whom wanted to fulfill the wishes of a thuggish media tycoon: Yedioth Ahronoth’s publisher and its most senior editor, Arnon (Noni) Mozes. MK Eitan Cabel is one of Mozes’ many underlings, they all serve their master. The violence Yedioth Ahronoth has perpetrated in the Israeli public sphere was manifested on Wednesday, when so many MKs were too scared to vote against this despicable piece of legislation.

Israel Hayom redefined the Israeli media landscape; it created a more democratic public discourse. Mozes wants to reclaim the dominant role he once had in Israeli politics — in fact, the power he once exerted on all of us Israelis. He wants to restore the good old days when Yedioth Ahronoth was a de facto monopoly. Yedioth’s present-day agenda espouses values that are very much against what conservatives and rightists stand for. The sponsors of the bill want to do away with the alternative to Yedioth Ahronoth — Israel Hayom.

The is supposedly meant to help the print media and protect it from the freebies, which have a different business model.

There we go again. When newspapers entered the digital age, the employees at the printing plants protested; when cars made their debut, coachmen were angry. When Cabel took the podium on Wednesday, he said the provisions of the bill were meant to counter the content of this paper. This is hardly surprising. This is very much like what Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said the other day. She had no shame in saying that she supported the bill because it promoted “a worldview that I believe runs contrary to the interests of the State of Israel.” And despite her outrageous statement, everyone went about their business. We are talking about the daughter of Eitan Livni, the legendary Irgun operative. She has detonated an improvised explosive device at Israeli society’s holiest of holies: freedom of speech.

Livni should not take democracy’s name in vain; she should inquire with legal scholars on both the Right and the Left about the degree to which this vile bill hurts democracy, free speech and our public discourse. A media outlet’s content should never be grounds for its closure unless it actively promotes sedition or violence. This disgrace is a mark of Cain on the forehead of those who call themselves proponents of democracy and free speech; I am referring to people like MK Merav Michaeli (Labor), MK Ofer Shelah (Yesh Atid), and MK Ruth Calderon (Yesh Atid). Calderon has always advocated a spirited Talmudic-style debate but on Wednesday decided to vote in favor of restricting the marketplace of ideas.

Those supposedly principled MKs also disgraced themselves. What would the late former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir have said had he witnessed his son, Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Yair Shamir (Yisrael Beytenu), vote for the bill? What would the late Irgun officer Haim Landau have thought about his son, Tourism Minister Uzi Landau (Yisrael Beytenu), voting for a bill that stifles the Right’s free speech? I am focusing on Yisrael Beytenu MKs for a reason. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who has tried to move this bill forward, is very close to Mozes and a darling of Yedioth.

While Lieberman gets favorable coverage in Yedioth, the conservative-rightist constituents he claims to represent are being badgered over and over again by the paper that used to run a state. That paper now has a competitor it needs to shut down.

Lieberman says his party belongs to the Right. On Wednesday’s moment of truth it turned out that this party of his is just a decoy that was used to siphon off votes from the Right for the sake of power and personal vengeance. No one really knows what Lieberman genuinely believes in, on any issue (with the exception of inciting the public against the Arabs). The Right would be well-advised not to build up expectations when it comes to his willingness to safeguard the land of Israel. How ironic is it that MK Ahmad Tibi (Ra’am-Ta’al) and other Arab MKs voted with Lieberman. The next time Tibi laments about the lack of free speech and the infringement of minorities, people should wave a copy of the bill in front of him.

Wednesday was a dark day for democracy. At least we can take comfort from the emotions this travesty has generated. There is strong opposition for this bill on both the Left and the Right. It includes intellectuals, educators and thinkers, as well as large swaths of the general public. Israel Hayom will only grow stronger as a result of this development. Israel Hayom wanted to overhaul the monolithic Israeli media and add another, central voice that had been silenced. We will stay the course for many years to come, well after this shameful bill disappears into oblivion.