[CIMC-work] Fw: [IMC-Process] Indymedia Israel under police investigation, website shut down fornow

[Chris Kaihatsu]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bryan Atinsky" <bryan at indymedia.org.il>
To: <imc-process at lists.indymedia.org>
Sent: Monday, December 08, 2003 3:16 AM
Subject: [IMC-Process] Indymedia Israel under police investigation, website
shut down fornow


The Israeli company who provided us with space on their server (Actcom) has
recieved very threatening phone calls to their homes and offices in regard
to a cartoon by Brazilian cartoonist Latuff showing Sharon and Hitler
kissing. Further, a police investigation has been started against us in
regard to this cartoon, accusing us of incitement.

The news about this has been all over the Israeli media. (Ma'ariv, Ynet,
etc.) They are accusing us of anti-semitism and incitment.  One article even
goes so far as to say that the red color of the cartoon background signifies
blood and is therefore violent (red and black are also the color of the Nazi
flag, and for that matter red is the color of the red flag of the Left).
This is a ridiculous accusation.
(http://www.nfc.co.il/archive/001-D-35615-00.html)

The articles in the media accuse Indymedia of publishing the cartoon.  It is
obvious that they have no understanding of what open-publishing is.  The
article was published without our involvement whatsoever, by the cartoonist
himself in Brazil.  We did not publish it and we did not put it as a
feature.

Whether one agrees with the cartoon or not -- if it is simplistic or
tactless -- is not the question. The Latuff cartoon should not have been
censored.  It is not incitement, it is not anti-semitism, it is not racism,
etc.

Anyway, the cartoon was off the newswire and in the archive in a matter of
hours due to other articles being published onto the newswire and the only
way to get articles from the archive is to actively search for them.

Actcom, who provides the server became fearful and pleaded/demanded that we
close the website.  We are in the process of re-programming/improving the
website design anyway, so we have shut the site for at least a couple of
weeks and we are looking for a server outside of Israel so that we aren't
as suseptible to being shut down.

---------------------
"Jerusalem police said on Sunday they are investigating who was behind a
rash of posters in the capital depicting Industry, Trade, and Labor Minister
Ehud Olmert stamping products from the territories with a nazi-era yellow
'Jude' Star of David, under the slogan 'Olmert caves in to the EU demands to
label Israel's Yesha products.'...Police are also investigating the
appearance of a caricature of PM Ariel Sharon kissing Adolph Hitler on the
left-wing Indymedia web-site." (picture of cartoon shown in link)

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid
=1070775779594&p=1008596981749

Dec. 7, 2003
Police investigate Olmert 'Jude' posters
By STUART WINER

Jerusalem police said on Sunday they are investigating who was behind a rash
of posters in the capital depicting Industry, Trade, and Labor Minister Ehud
Olmert stamping products from the territories with a nazi-era yellow 'Jude'
Star of David, under the slogan 'Olmert caves in to the EU demands to label
Israel's Yesha products.'

The posters appeared on Hanevi'im and Straus Streets in downtown Jerusalem
as well as other streets around the capital.

The cartoon featured in the poster was originally drawn by Israeli
cartoonist 'Oleg' on behalf of the Women in Green – a movement against
retreating from the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights - and appeared as
a paid-for advertisement in last Friday's edition of the Post.

The cartoon was produced in protest over Olmert's "capitulation to European
anti-Semites by metaphorically stamping Israeli goods with the yellow Star
of David." Co-chair of the Women in Green Nadia Matar told Israel Radio,
adding that anyone could have taken their pamphlet, enlarged it and hung it.

Matar denied any knowledge of the posters and suggested the picture was
taken from the Women in Green's web site where the cartoon, along with
previous drawings, also appear.

"Someone took it, and did good job," Matar said. "Perhaps we can get the
same people to put them up every week, because we can't afford to do it."

Matar defended the theme of the cartoons and said it is Olmert's actions
that are questionable.
"The first step is to label the products with a yellow star and next it will
be the people of Yesha. It is Olmert that is an outrage not the poster," she
said.

Should the perpetrators be caught Matar said she will not press charges for
breach of copy write.
"Why should I, they did us a favor," she said.

Yesha Council head Benzi Lieberman condemned that action and told Channel 2
news that if they discover who hung the poster, they would report them to
the police.

Police are also investigating the appearance of a caricature of PM Ariel
Sharon kissing Adolph Hitler on the left-wing Indymedia web-site.

Deputy Internal Security Minister Ya'acov Edri (Likud) strongly condemned
the posters and said he hopes the perpetrators are brought to justice.

"I see this as very serious, and I hope and believe the police will
apprehend and arrest those behind it and bring them to justice," Edri said.

"When you make an extreme connection like that it is incitement and that is
very dangerous," Edri continued. "It is making a clear connotation that
Olmert is putting a yellow star on the settlers."

Olmert has recently drawn strong criticism from settlers for acceding to a
European Union request to label products made in Israel with their city of
manufacture, thus identifying those products that come from beyond the Green
Line and in the territories.

"We have had enough of incitement in the past," Edri said referring to the
period leading up to the assassination of former Prime Minister Yizchak
Rabin during which posters and banners against the government's policies
were condemned by some for their inciting content.

Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lopliansky strongly condemned the posters and ordered
municipal worker to immediately remove them and city spokesman Gidi
Schmerling said the municipality will register a formal complaint with the
police against the perpetrators and press for charges if they are
apprehended.

Jerusalem Police spokesman Shmulik Ben-Ruby said police are investigating
whether or not the poster can be considered incitement.
"First we need to check if it is really incitement and if it is against the
law," Ben-Ruby said. "We are also looking into where the posters came from."

Council of Jewish Settlements in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip spokesman
Yehoshua Mor-Yossef also spoke out against the posters.

"Although we are very against what he is doing we are also against the
posters," Mor_Yossef said. "He [Olmert] might be a bit confused but there is
certainly no place to suggest he is anti-Semitic. That is out of bounds".

http://www.deepikaglobal.com/latestnews.asp?ncode=9959
Israeli police investigates Sharon's caricature

Jerusalem, Dec 8 (UNI) Israeli police is investigating the appearance of a
caricature of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon kissing Adolph Hitler on a website
and a rash of pictures of his deputy, Ehud Olmert, stamping products from
the territories with a Nazi-era yellow ''jude'' Star of David in Jerusalem.

The star bears a provocative slogan ''Olmert caves in to the EU demands to
label Israel's Yesha products.'' Sharon's picture appeared on the left-wing
Indymedia web-site while his deputy's on Hanevi'im and Straus Streets in
downtown Jerusalem as well as on other streets around the capital.

The right wing settler community is annoyed with Olmert for agreeing to
stamp products manufactured in the territories with the name of the place,
instead of Made in Israel stamp, complying to European demands which would
lead to levies on the products that Israeli products are exempted from
paying under special agreements.


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