I PROTEST! I am shocked by the silence of the Israeli media after the government’s decision to boycott the Aljazeera network as punishment for its coverage of the bloody events in Gaza.

As journalists and citizens of the “Only Democracy in the Middle East”, it is our duty to be the first to raise our voice against this violation of the freedom of the press in our country.

The boycott will not harm Aljazeera. It will harm the State of Israel, because it puts us in line with the worst oppressive regimes in the region and the world.

Uri Avnery,
Sokolov Prize laureate

Published in Haaretz,
March 14, 2008

Matthew Brett is the Canadian Dimension weblog editor and a Montreal-based journalist at a weekly newspaper. Read other posts by Canadian Dimension.