The fact that there are almost 100 internal probes into allegations of IDF misconduct during the last Gaza war shows three things: that there is concern some soldiers broke the law during their stay in the Strip; that mistakes may have been made during the fighting; and most importantly, that the army is taking all accusations leveled against it seriously.

Judge Advocate General Brig.-Gen. Avihai Mandelblit is not always a popular figure in the military, especially when he punishes soldiers who break the law while fighting Israel’s enemies in Gaza, Lebanon or the West Bank. For Mandelblit, there is no difference between routine security operations and full-fledged war, and no difference between Arabs and Jews. There is only the law. Continue reading →

A recent report by researcher Zvi Reich discovered that the average Israeli journalist relies on 2.5 sources for every story, as opposed to 3.5 by the average American reporter. Thirty years ago, a similar study showed that The New York Times and The Washington Post averaged some eight sources for a front-page story. The local media scene is in as much turmoil as America’s.

With Channel 10 on the verge of shutting down due to lack of finances, and the Israel Broadcasting Authority mired in stalled reforms and rock-bottom ratings, the models of both commercial and public news media seem to floundering. Ma’ariv is millions of shekels in debt, cutting costs, hemorrhaging staff and always on the verge of closing. Its two chief editors recently quit. A free daily closely allied with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has leapfrogged Ma’ariv and is now the second most read newspaper in the country. Ha’aretz has lost several of its leading reporters and editors in the past six months as management has cuts costs.

When he was here in 1993 on a Fulbright scholarship, Theodore Glasser, a professor of communications at Stanford University, found that Army Radio was the most credible news source in the country. It showed the government’s commitment to quality public broadcasting, he thought, and was a good example of how the state that thinks good journalism ought to exist can create conditions for good journalism.

To survive, let alone stay relevant, newspapers need to be viewed as essential public services, something a community cannot live without, like public libraries and schools, says Glasser. The Jerusalem Post sat down with him to speak about the future of media at a conference on the subject at the IDC Herzliya.

Glasser’s teaching and research focuses on media practices and performance, with emphasis on questions of press responsibility and accountability. He has held visiting appointments as a Senior Fulbright Scholar at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; as the Wee Kim Wee Professor of Communication Studies at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; and at the University of Tampere, Finland. Despite the crisis facing journalism, he says, enrollment to journalism schools across the US has never been higher. The new crop of journalists defines the trade much more broadly than the older generation, and can work across multiple formats.

The stories we’re putting on our front page seem to me to be getting more and more important [Iran, the settlements and Jewish identity issues.] But at the same time I’m seeing that these things are becoming less and less important to a new generation of people.

Even if they’re not interesting, the stories still belong on the front page. That’s the power of the press, to gain the attention of the policymakers. And that requires publishing the story even if no one reads it. That’s what a good paper recognizes. There’s a balance between those kinds of stories and other kinds of stories that people read and want. But if you give up your front page, you give up your mission. Continue reading →

Breaking The Silence, a small group of former Israeli soldiers on Wednesday embarked on an international campaign to show the world what it says are testimonies from soldiers pointing to immoral Israeli actions committed during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza earlier this year.

I’m not going to get into the report itself, which may be totally true, somewhat true, entirely false, who knows. It is undoubtedly an important report that is reverberating globally. Instead, a brief look behind the scenes into the way Breaking The Silence operated on this report.

It promised the exclusive to Haaretz, because it knows the report would have gotten prominence there. What it didn’t count on was Haaretz learning its lesson from its huge mistake last time it was given a report into alleged Israel Defense Forces human rights violations in Gaza. Last time Haaretz didn’t do its journalistic job and published unsubstantiated hearsay. This time Haaretz military reporter Amos Harel had the presence of mind to send the Breaking The Silence report to the IDF for response.

My military reporter, Yaakov Katz, was in the right place at the right time, and got hold of most of the report himself. Breaking The Silence tried to get Yaakov off the story because it didn’t fit into their strategy to have The Jerusalem Post take a critical look at their report. They promised Yaakov they would give him other stories in the future if he dropped this one for now. Katz refused, rightly so, and we published.

Several days before all this, Breaking The Silence gave out their report to a wide array of foreign media, and not to the IDF to probe into itself, with the caveat that they observe the embargo until after Haaretz published the report first. All of which shows their original intent was to get as much uncritical worldwide publicity for their report. Legitimate, sure. Fair? Not so sure.

Today marks the start of the 18th Maccabiah Games, the so-called Jewish Olympics held every four years in Israel. This year’s gathering has attracted some 8,000 Jewish athletes from more than 60 countries.

Sorry to rain on the (literal) parade, but somebody has to bring up the elephant in the stadium: While there is much to celebrate in the gathering here of young, talented, enthusiastic Maccabeans from around the world, the Maccabiah has become so expensive that there are hundreds, maybe even thousands of outstanding Jewish sportsmen and women who stayed home because they were priced out of the Jewish Games market. Continue reading →

The defense establishment is concerned at intensifying legal campaigns in foreign courts that aim to deter Israel from using force against Hamas and Hizbullah.

Reeling from four damning reports in one week from human rights organizations about the IDF’s conduct in Operation Cast Lead, the sense among senior defense officials is that the “legal front” against Israel is growing at an alarming rate.

There is also a palpable urgency within the legal and defense establishments to thoroughly and professionally investigate allegations of war crimes against the IDF, not only because this has been standard practice, but also in an effort to ward off foreign lawsuits, investigations and arrest warrants against officers. Continue reading →