Haaretz blasts its own publisher for ‘romanticizing’ Oct 7th terrorists as ‘freedom fighters’

Amos Schocken’s remarks at a London conference shocked subscribers, who left by the hundreds.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

In a rare display of self-criticism, the editorial board of one of Israel’s most prominent newspapers took its publisher to task Monday after he called Palestinian terrorists “freedom fighters” and demanded international sanctions against Israel’s government.

Amos Schocken, who has headed the Haaretz newspaper for over two decades, had headed a list of speakers giving fiercely anti-government speeches at a London conference the paper sponsored last week about the “day after” Israel’s war against the Hamas and Hezbollah terror organizations.

He falsely accused the government of crimes such as “imposing a cruel apartheid regime on the Palestinian population,” supporting “ethnic cleansing” and committing a “second Nakba” in “part of Gaza,” using the Arab word for “disaster,” which is what Israel’s enemies call its victory in the War of Independence.

He also called for sanctions against the government and its leaders who oppose a Palestinian state, as “the only way to achieve” this desired goal.

The kicker, however, was when he said, “It dismisses the costs [to] both sides for defending the settlements while fighting the Palestinian freedom fighters that Israel calls terrorists.”

This last statement shocked Israelis of all stripes, even loyal readers of the decidedly left-wing daily, hundreds of whom promptly cancelled their subscriptions in protest. Many advertisers, too, showed their opposition by dropping their orders with the paper.

Several government ministries announced that they would “suspend all existing agreements” and refuse to work with the paper in the future as well due to his “extreme, baseless and false statements.”

Schocken tried walking back the reference, first saying “To remove all doubt, Hamas are not freedom fighters. October 7 was a horrific event and I wrote in the paper that its initiators and perpetrators must be severely punished.”

He then wrote, “I have rethought what I said in London. Many freedom fighters in the world and throughout history, perhaps also on the way to establishing the State of Israel, carried out terrible terrorist acts and hurt the innocent to achieve their goals. I should have said: Using terrorism is illegitimate. I erred when I didn’t say this.”

The paper’s editorial made clear that this kind of apology was not good enough.

“Even in his clarification, Schocken erred,” the article said inpart. “Throughout history, nations have waged armed struggle against oppressive occupiers to liberate themselves and achieve independence; not every armed struggle is terrorism.

“But the term ‘freedom fighter’ has a positive, even romantic, connotation, which could lead people to support illegitimate acts of violence. Those should be unacceptable in any way, shape or form.”

Referring to the butchery of the Hamas-led invasion that ended 1,200 lives, it also said, “Any organization that advocates the murder of women, children and the elderly is a terrorist organization, and its members are terrorists. They certainly aren’t ‘freedom fighters.’”

Haaretz co-owner Leonid Nevzlin had already taken to social media Sunday to harshly criticize Schocken.

“His recent statements at the Haaretz conference in London are appalling, unacceptable, and even inhumane, displaying profound insensitivity toward the victims of that terrible day, the casualties of the ongoing war, the hostages and their families, and the people of Israel as a whole,” he wrote, in part on his X account.