By Reuven Koret
August 9, 2005
Dear readers, we get a lot of mail, as you might expect, but this one is from a long-time reader and I think that it deserves a response. I would have responded to him privately, but since he felt comfortable publishing it on our site Forum, I will provide a public response for the benefit of encouraging public debate on crucial issues of freedom expression and suppression of dissent, as Israel Insider has always done and will continue to do as an intrinsic part of its mission.
-----Original Message-----
From: Don Radlauer
Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2005 5:01 PM
To: publisher@israelinsider.com
Subject: Legal problems with Nadia Matar article
Dear Reuven:
I wrote the following comment in the Forum pertaining to the Nadia Matar article "How we will cancel the Decree"; I wanted to send it directly to you as well, in case you aren't monitoring the Forums closely:
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Dear Mr. Koret:
This article incites to a number of illegal and dangerous actions, including the sabotaging of Israel Defense Forces equipment. As an occasional member of the Israel Police Force, I strongly suggest the you remove this article (along with any others making similar suggestions) forthwith; otherwise I will contact the authorities and suggest that they take appropriate action. I do not believe that your "views exressed by the author..." disclaimer is an adequate defense in this case.
Best regards,
-Don Radlauer
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You should be aware that I'm not the only person involved here; I suggest that you not treat this as one cranky reader's complaint. Articles like this one are seriously illegal, and do not fall under even American protections for political free speech, much less the weaker Israeli protections.
Best,
Don
Dear Mr. Radlauer,
Since I am sure you do not wish to be identified as a "shtinker," informer," or other unpleasant category of untermensch, please kindly bring to our attention what in Ms. Matar's articles as published in Israel Insider you find "illegal and dangerous." I have hunted and hunted and cannot find reference to sabotage of IDF equipment, or other "seriously illegal" crimes against people or property.
Search and search though I have, I cannot find the equivalent of "crying fire in a crowded theater" -- unless you consider blowing a shofar at the western wall falling into that category. Don, do you really fear the Israeli masses are going to rush out after reading this viewpoint and storm the Bastille? Or perhaps you are outraged that Ms. Matar should suggest that residents of Gush Katif about to be expelled should handcuff themselves to their furniture or lock themselves in their own homes before the police come to drag them and their kids out of the house?
Perhaps, since those 2801 homes are about to be come property of the state before their destruction and handover (land, foundations, and rubble) to the Palestinian Authority, that is the sabotage to which you are referring? Or maybe you are afraid their kids and parents will interfere with the cops coming to evict them from their synagogues before they are demolished by proud Jewish policemen and soldiers. Maybe you concerned are that the bereaved families may cling to the gravestones of their fallen before the corpses are disinterred?
The right to assemble, the right to protest, the right to protest perceived evil and abuse of power -- all of these explicitly non-violently -- I find well within the traditions of civil disobedience and public protest from Ralph Waldo Emerson through the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Israelis have frequently resorted to all of the sorts of protest Ms. Matar mentions, and I have been proud to be have taken part in some such protests, and to be part of a society that has, at least until recently, permitted dissent.
If you are, as you say, "an occasional member of the Israeli Police Force" (Do you still do neighborhood watch patrol out there in the wilds of Alfei Menashe?), this really strikes me as a rather pathetic attempt to puff yourself into a position of authority, kind of like those who in totalitarian regimes arrogate, or exploit or appoint themselves positions of authority from which to bully others not in the "party."
Yes, please do go "contact the authorities and suggest that they take appropriate action." I am certain the authorities have nothing better to do with their time and energy. I personally would be grateful for a public hearing or trial which would bring these issues to the widest possible attention. I am sure that you will long look back with pride on your service to the police, state, and calls of conscience.
I have copied this to the Forum in response to your self-published comments and given it the attention that it deserves so no one has the impression that your threat and attempt to intimidate free thinkers and the free press will go unanswered.
You should be proud of yourself, Don Radlauer. You really are an upstanding citizen! Hail to you and your clean and fearless leader!
Best regards,
Reuven Koret
CEO and Publisher, Israel Insider
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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