The Last Word / Freedom of expression in the stands - Haaretz

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Tue., November 06, 2007 Cheshvan 25, 5768

Israel Time: 01:42 (EST+7)

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The Last Word / Freedom of expression in the stands

By Shlomi Barzel

The easy way to handle the disgraceful Beitar Jerusalem fans who booed during the moment of silence for former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin Sunday night is by not subscribing undue importance to them. All that the big democrats - Israel Football Association chairman Avi Luzon and IFA prosecutor Shalom Even Ezra - have to do is find the section (20.12) that empowers them to bring the club up on charges.

The outstanding lawmakers - Ophir Pines, Eitan Cabel and Ahmed Tibi - and anybody else who was hoping to make big headlines the day after will stand off to the side and cheer. Don't try to distract these MKs with talk about the righteousness of collective punishment (unless you are discussing Gaza or Nablus), and don't trouble them with the pretense of a long educational process. The masses want blood and they will get it.

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The ignorant crowd among Beitar's fans touched an open wound that Israeli society is still trying hard to deal with, so many years after Rabin was murdered. You will not find in this country any real education in democracy, a discussion about limits to freedom of expression, or an attempt to instill tolerance. Pines is a lawyer by trade, as is Cabel, but it is sad to see how much they did not internalize anything during the course of their education. Despite the fact that the fans' action was repulsive, Israeli law teaches us that boos and calling out Amir's name does not even brush up against the limit on freedom of expression.

Pines and his friends prefer to settle a score with the Beitar fans and reap the benefits of demonstrating how democratic they are, but they wouldn't dare lead the way down the path to changing anything regarding limits to freedom of expression.

In the private court of Luzon and Even Ezra, they are likely to find a sympathetic ear that has acted in a draconian manner toward the referees. But if they were to go anywhere near the High Court of Justice with a videotape of background voices and pictures of these hundreds of barbarians, it can be assumed that the honorable madame Justice Dorit Beinish and her educated friends would throw them out with the trash.

The certain upcoming test that will pit the "voice of the nation" verdict against pulling back on the freedom of expression, will certainly not stand up to them. Pines and his ilk are already unwilling to say anything about how soft is the justice system, which has already been beaten for many years with fundamentalist-liberalism. The principle of freedom of expression and the right to voice an opinion is valuable to them as long as the opinion heard is close to one they hold themselves. From the moment that this condition is not met, freedom of expression becomes superfluous for them.

Anyone calling for vengeance to be brought upon the collective known as Beitar Jerusalem in a kangaroo court is like someone trying to treat cancer with Acamol. The fans of Beitar are losing their club to the mob of scum, but no radius ban or point-reduction penalty will solve that. The war against ignorance does not allow short cuts, and anyone who calls for their use should not gain any political points. The danger to democratic Israeli society that these politicians and the crowd around them pose is no less than what was heard from those who screamed on Sunday night.

It is not against the law to leave to democracy the denunciation of societal norms and the boundaries of good taste. The choice made by the Beitar fans to expose their ignorance for everybody to see leaves them with painful loneliness, and lays down the line between us and them in a very effective way. Between the norm and the extreme, between the sane and the captives. If you would like, it was a glorious own-goal for the mob. Believe it or not, the score is 1-0 for us.

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