xaxam | Ha'Aretz=Pravda.

Liberalism at its height

Recently Ha'aretz announced its new policy for talkbacks to the articles it publishes:

Political orientation will have absolutely no bearing on whether a comment is posted or rejected. Comments containing the following will be automatically disqualified:
1. Personal attacks, vulgarities and profanities directed at other respondents.
2. Statements terming Israelis or Palestinians and their leaders Nazis, or accusing them of genocide or ethnic cleansing.
3. Statements which may be construed as urging attacks on Israeli or Palestinian leaders, officials, security forces or civilians.
4. Comments of an anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim, anti-Arab or other racist nature.

Responding to an article by Uzi Benziman, I wrote yesterday that the only meaningful translation of the word "hitkansut" (התכנסות) is "concentration" rather than consolidation or whatever else the spin doctors try to substitute in order to avoid undesirable but inevitable associations. This was apparently considered as "statement terming Israelis or Palestinians and their leaders as Nazis". The words "never again" in the same vein were treated as having "racist nature".

And I can only welcome such development. The sooner the "liberal society" will realize that the allegedly liberal and enlightened newspaper became worse than the Soviet "Pravda", the better. Ironically, whilst there was not a single word of truth (правда) in "Pravda", there is not a shade of a warm sentiment towards the Land (הארץ) in Ha'Aretz.

It is really difficult to believe that this Goebbelesque paper knew better times.