State Prosecutor Says Haaretz’s Amira Hass Did Not Incite Violence

Statements by Haaretz journalist Amira Hass in an April 2013 opinion piece, “The inner syntax of Palestinian stone-throwing,” do not violate the law against incitement to violence, the office of State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan has informed the rightist Legal Forum for the Land of Israel.

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In a response to the legal forum’s request that an investigation against Hass be launched, Anat Goldstein, from Nitzan’s office, wrote last month: “The state prosecution takes a dim view of the statements and strongly objects to them. Nevertheless, our position is that an investigation should not be launched against Ms. Hass on suspicion of incitement to violence because of this article, which does not call to commit violence, and thus does not break the law against incitement.”

In the oped, Hass wrote: “Throwing stones is the birthright and duty of anyone subject to foreign rule. Throwing stones is an action as well as a metaphor of resistance.” She also wrote: “Often hurling stones is borne of boredom, excessive hormones, mimicry, boastfulness and competition. But in the inner syntax of the relationship between the occupier and the occupied, stone-throwing is the adjective attached to the subject of ‘We’ve had enough of you, occupiers.’”