The editorial board of Haaretz, Israel’s longest-running newspaper, distanced itself on Monday from publisher Amos Schocken’s remarks describing Palestinian terrorists as “freedom fighters.”
Schocken, who was speaking at a Haaretz conference in London on Oct. 27, said, “The [Benjamin] Netanyahu government doesn’t care about imposing a cruel apartheid regime on the Palestinian population. It dismisses the costs to both sides for defending the [West Bank] settlements while fighting the Palestinian freedom fighters that Israel calls terrorists.”
Several government ministries cut ties with the paper and hundreds of Israelis canceled their subscriptions.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi proposed extending the boycott across all government bodies, which would have cut advertising and tender announcements on Haaretz‘s print and digital platforms.