Israeli Minister Walks Back "Death Penalty for Fake News" Remarks
In the era of President Donald Trump, “fake news” has become a huge problem, but Trump has not been the only leader targeted, and America is not the only country where overly biased — and at times blatantly false — reporting has become an issue.
According to Haaretz, Israeli Communications Minister Ayoub Kara recently appeared to suggest a rather severe punishment for those in the media who choose to propagate false and heavily biased reports.
“Everyone who brings fake news, will bring upon themselves the death verdict and there won’t be f***ing fake news anymore,” Kara said while speaking at a special retreat for members of the governing Likud Party.
Unsurprisingly, Kara was almost immediately besieged with criticism on social media for his remark which seemed to indicate he was supportive of the death penalty for journalists who perpetuate fake news.
Kara said of the criticism in an official statement: “It’s funny to me (that I’m being criticized) because whoever sees me knows how important freedom of speech is to me, how supportive I am of reforms, how much I want transparency in the media.”
According The Jerusalem Post, Kara even caught some backlash from members of his own Likud Party, specifically Knesset member Oren Hazan, who bluntly stated, “I completely reject his bizarre words.”
“I’m in shock that we’re in a reality in which we don’t execute terrorists, but we threaten to execute journalists,” Hazan continued. “Only the public judges the media, and they will vote with their remotes.”
Hazen called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to publicly denounce Kara’s comments and added, “This isn’t the way of the Likud.”
According to The Times of Israel, Kara ultimately issued an apology and clarification on his “death verdict” remark and insisted that his words were misinterpreted, most likely due to his difficulties with speaking Hebrew.
Kara tweeted, “I realize Twitter nation is up in arms, but you can calm down. I love the media and if I wasn’t understood properly I apologize.”
As to what he really meant with his remarks on fake news, Kara stated, “I meant that anyone who spreads ‘fake news’ is bringing upon himself a death sentence, people won’t see him on the remote,” meaning viewers who dislike the fake news will simply change the channel.
“Those who know me, know how important freedom of expression is to me, how much I support reform and want openness in the media,” added Kara, who chalked up the misunderstanding to his being an Arabic-speaking Druze who sometimes has trouble speaking Hebrew.
“What can I do? My native tongue is Arabic. Sometimes I need to quickly choose my words in Hebrew and sometimes make mistakes,” he explained.
This actually isn’t the first time that Kara has tangled with the media, as he has previously called for Arabic media outlet Al Jazeera to be kicked out of Israel due to their anti-Israel bias. He has also spoken of closing down Israeli public broadcaster Kan. His talk of reform was aimed at saving the right-leaning Channel 20 media outlet from having their broadcasting license revoked by Israeli television regulators.
We know all about “fake news” here in America and the subversive problems it can create, and though the “death penalty” is an abusrd punishment in that regard, we definitely agree that media consumers and their remotes will be the final arbiters of whatever discipline the perpetuation of fake news should entail.
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