(Der Spiegel-Germany) Col. Sima Vaknin-Gil, 44, Israel's chief censor, said in an interview: "In 1988, the High Court of Justice laid forth an extremely rigid test. In order to censor a publication, there has to be an 'imminent certainty of actual harm to state security.' That same ruling mentions that in any case in which there is a direct conflict between the freedom of the press and state security, then state security will prevail. But our approach is very liberal. In the past, I served in intelligence - and I wish that our enemies would publish some of the things we approve; it would serve me greatly." "Our enemy is the intelligence officer sitting in Damascus and reviewing the Israeli media and Internet. I will censor anything that comes across my desk that I believe will be useful to the enemy for purposes of gathering valuable information. It can be one letter, one word, one line. At times, I regret, it can be more - but we aim to keep our intervention to a minimum."
2010-04-27 08:29:28Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive