Dangerous words - Haaretz

Subscribe to Print Edition

Tue., October 30, 2007 Cheshvan 18, 5768

Israel Time: 12:44 (EST+7)

web haaretz.com

Back to Homepage

Print Edition

Diplomacy

Defense

Arts & Leisure

Real Estate

Jewish World

National

Advertising

Magazine

Week's End

Business

Opinion

Rosner's Domain

Anglo File

Books

Travel

del.icio.us

Digg It! new

Last update - 09:13 29/10/2007

Dangerous words

By Ze'ev Segal

A few years ago, I happened to speak to Leah Rabin. We were standing beside the memorial to Yitzhak Rabin at the Tel Aviv square named after him. We stepped up to the plaque on the wall that read, "Here Yitzhak Rabin was murdered." I pointed out to her that his name was mentioned without adding that he served as both prime and defense minister.

Leah Rabin responded mockingly: "Is it possible to imagine that there is someone who would not know who he was?" Trying to placate her, I asked: "But what will it be like in another 100 years?" She did not change her mind. A few days later, she spoke to the city's mayor and today the wall bears a sign explaining who Rabin was. Now, 12 years after his murder, Rabin's image has become blurred to the young generation. The perpetuation of his name is an ongoing duty not only for the sake of the past but mainly so there will be a different future.

As Yedidya Stern and Avi Saguy correctly pointed out in Haaretz, the day commemorating Rabin should also become the day honoring democracy. A political murder is a means of taking "freedom of expression" to its bitter culmination. A murder is a murder, but the murder of a prime minister constitutes the murder of the democratic principle for which prime ministers serve, even those who are not worthy of their position. President Shimon Peres said several years ago that "votes are not weighed but counted." This goes to show that the principle of majority rule and the appointment of the person who receives the votes of the majority in the Knesset is a principle without which society cannot exist.

	Advertisement

Nowadays, the anniversary of Rabin's death is being marked in several ways. One of them is the publication of a recording calling for Yigal Amir, the assassin, to be freed; and some of the media are giving this a great deal of publicity. There can be no doubt that the public has the right to know what is going on around it, but it is the media's ethical duty not to grant extensive coverage to hallucinatory and dangerous voices and to words and images that oppose democracy.

The wide coverage that is currently being given to the tape of the police's first questioning of the assassin leaves one with a feeling of uneasiness. At the same time, it is good that the court approved the tape's publication, a move contradicting the accepted legal approach regarding the publication of materials relating to interrogations. It was sufficient for the murderer to respond "Heaven forbid" when the interrogator asked him whether he regretted the act. That is the voice that has to echo through every home in Israel and every educational institution, as a warning for the future.

There are those who believe that the existing law is mistaken in stipulating that a crime of incitement to violence or terror exists only if there is a "realistic chance" of violence or terror. This provision, which was added to the law five years ago, makes it more difficult to convict those who incite but it does not prevent such convictions. The courts are intended to interpret the law to mean that aggressive words have the power to kill - as experience has shown - to the effect that negative and inciting content can in and of itself create the possibility that someone will commit such an act. And history has proven that this is the case.

The frequent publications on the Internet calling for the liquidation of "leftists and Ashkenazim" are the kind that create a realistic chance, if not the "almost certain" chance required by the law, of an act of violence taking place. What education does not do, must in this case be done by the law and the courts, which should give a reasonable interpretation to the law and ensure that justice is meted out.

The recognition that the assassin of the prime minister is not worthy of any kind of leniency with regard to his punishment, neither now nor in the future, must be accepted by the sane majority. Already today, this issue has to be turned into a "non-subject" and must not serve as the basis for a rational public discussion. The law does not favor "personal laws," and adopting a law on this subject will also not prove beneficial as laws can be changed.

However, a law is also a social declaration and a "living creature in its environment." To this end, and in view of the danger of denial, it would not be unseemly for the Knesset, on the basis of wide agreement, to explain its position in explicit and unambiguous legislation. Even a democracy is allowed, and indeed it must, protect itself from those who act on the basis of its vitality.

Bookmark to del.icio.us


	The killing files
	A binder in a German office holds details of the systematic mass murder of Jews.


	Save the children
	One third of recent sexual assault complaints emerged from Haredi communities.




1.	According to the law	10:42	\|	Zev	29/10/07

2.	Zeev, what about pal would be assasins of the current PM,relea	10:54	\|	Absolute Sweden	29/10/07

3.	Dangerous words	11:01	\|	Ralph	29/10/07

4.	Zev Segal as Cassandra	11:38	\|	Yaakov Sullivan	29/10/07

5.	to #3	11:40	\|	mordechai	29/10/07

6.	to #4 Stay in NYC	11:55	\|	MarianoW	29/10/07

7.	MarianoW, you misread me completely #6	12:14	\|	Yaakov Sullivan	29/10/07

8.	HAARETZ STUPID HEADLINES	12:14	\|	Robert	29/10/07

9.	Zev #1 - Israel is not really a democracy	12:35	\|	Beni	29/10/07

10.	Future Generations will remember Rabin as the father of Oslo	12:44	\|	Neville Chamberlain	29/10/07

11.	Thou Shalt Not Kill	12:57	\|	J.M.Jordan	29/10/07

12.	Of course, Neville, of course #10	13:06	\|	Yaakov Sullivan	29/10/07

13.	And what about Ha`aretz?!	13:10	\|	Esther	29/10/07

14.	#8 assasination after the event was a waste of time	13:39	\|	victor hardman	29/10/07

15.	#13 un victorious & soft in the head	14:23	\|	Ari ben Yisrael	29/10/07

16.	To all of you	15:03	\|	Harald	29/10/07

17.	Absolute Sweden	15:13	\|	Ofer	29/10/07

18.	Assassins of Prime Ministers and other Heads of State	15:24	\|	Lynn	29/10/07

19.	Maybe he`s getting speaking engagements!	15:46	\|	EA	29/10/07

20.	there is no perfect security	16:57	\|	Atilla	29/10/07

21.	The PMs who embraces the killer of Jews deserves no leniency	17:15	\|	pace306	29/10/07

22.	Hitler was a special case w/ a question mark to it	19:00	\|	J.M.Jordan	29/10/07

23.	For Ari #15	19:11	\|	Esther	29/10/07

24.	This is one of few times I egry with you.	19:34	\|	TOMY	29/10/07

25.	Sullivan, not misread	20:25	\|	FOX	29/10/07

Today Online


	Bradley Burston: It's Judeo-Fascism Month in the state of Israel
	Responses: 36


	Daniel Ben-Simon: PM's courage in disclosing his cancer
	Responses: 7


	Moshe Arens: What the Qassams are costing Israel
	Responses: 20


	40 hurt in clash between police, Druze in Galilee
	Responses: 14


	IDF's tactical upper hand over Hamas in Gaza is diminishing
	Responses: 65

More Headlines
11:42 40 hurt as police, locals clash in Galilee town over cellular antenna


08:23 PM to undergo cancer operation following Annapolis conference


11:26 ANALYSIS: Illness and the press / PM's 'prostate speech'


12:21 High Court hears 6 requests to quash Katsav plea bargain


09:37 World's Jewish communities to rally for kidnapped IDF soldiers


09:34 IDF's tactical upper hand over Hamas in Gaza is diminishing


12:06 Syrians stage sit-in to demand Israeli release of prisoners


06:45 Land deal would have state, JNF swap 60,000 dunams


04:49 Ashrawi: Palestinians face one of most difficult phases in their history


11:02 MK Sharoni ousted from chairmanship of Knesset panel by own party