Arad Mayor Yair Maayan announced on Friday that he would ban the left-wing daily Haaretz from his city over what he said was a “false blood libel” in a feature article accusing the Israeli Defense Forces of “deliberately” firing on Gazans near aid distribution sites.
“The municipality will not allow false incitement against IDF soldiers and the State of Israel, certainly in times of war. The municipality will act to prevent the entry of the inciting newspaper into the city in accordance with the Prevention of Incitement Law,” Maayan told JNS.
The mayor wouldn’t say if the ban would include door-to-door deliveries of Haaretz to subscribers, although that number is likely negligible given the newspaper’s relatively small Hebrew print distribution.
The Haaretz article, by Nir Hasson, Yaniv Kubovich and Bar Peleg, titled, “‘It’s a Killing Field’: IDF Soldiers Ordered to Shoot Deliberately at Unarmed Gazans Waiting for Humanitarian Aid,” cites anonymous Israeli soldiers and officers who accuse the IDF of firing on Gazans using tanks, artillery and snipers to prevent them from approaching areas where they weren’t permitted.
The IDF rejected the accusations, saying its directives “prohibit” intentional attacks on noncombatants. “The IDF did not instruct the forces to deliberately shoot at civilians, including those approaching the distribution centers,” the IDF Spokesman’s Office said in a statement.
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