Monday, August 3, 2009
Oh no, not Freedom House, too? Politicized and biased in the expected NGO manner that is. Apparently Israel has moved from being "Free" to "Partially Free." What's changed? Well, nothing really, except that this particular report was prepared by one person, from limited and biased sources and then got none of the apparently cash-strapped Freedom House's usual editorial treatment before publication. Adi Schwartz has done yeoman's work in tracking down the back story: How did Israel stop being a free country
Here's a story about how un-professional a pro-democracy organization becomes when dealing with the State of Israel.
On May 1st 2009, Freedom House, an international NGO that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, declared that according to its Freedom of the Press Index, Israel is no longer a "free" country, but only "partially free".
That was odd: if anything, the Israeli press might be blamed for over-aggressiveness, lack of respect for privacy matters and tendency towards sensationalism. Maybe much more so than many other Western media, the Israeli press is robust and boisterous, and far from not being free.
On the other hand, Freedom House is an extremely respected organization, quoted frequently in all major newspapers, as well as in academic papers and governmental reports.
I decided to check with Freedom House how did they arrive at that conclusion, and to my great surprise, I discovered I was the first journalist (Israeli or non-Israeli) to do that. No one before asked Freedom house what was the reason for downgrading Israel to be only "partially free"...
Oh brother.
Is this a new development? I remember entering Freedom House years ago (I´m not sure exactly when), and seeing a map of the world in which Israel was shown as partially free. I assumed that was because of the Territories. Maybe it was since upgraded and has now been downgraded again.
I found this piece from 2006.
http://www.freedomhouse.org/inc/content/pubs/fiw/inc_country_detail.cfm?year=2006&country=6985&pf
I think the issue of Arab rights in the territories, including East Jerusalam, is being included in the overall view of Israel, which is interesting considering that one could regard the situation as an ongoing state of war. It seems logical that civil rights might be impacted by war, illogical that war wouldn't be considered a mitigating factor when judging a society.
I'm confused by this, and, I think there is definitely a backlash from the media because of their exclusion from Gaza during the incursion. Probably that was a huge mistake by the Israeli government. Press blackouts seem anti-democratic.
On the other hand the situation was probably incredibly dangerous - however without journalists on the ground the rumor mill is the only reflection of what happened and of course there is no objective way to say, "this did or didn't happen" if independent journalists are excluded.
One could of course make a strong case that the press in general is so negative regarding Israel that it doesn't matter, however I think this issue is something that should be addressed head on and not simply avoided.
Finally though I think Freedom House needs to think about the impact of war on human rights, especially in view of the generally very open Israeli society, its freedom of the press, etc.
This is especially true because of situations like that of religious minorities in other nations - for example the recent deaths of several Christians in Pakistan - but also the general oppression of women.
Women were flogged recently in the Sudan for wearing trousers.
Where on this map does Israel fit?
Human rights this basic - the essential rights of women for example - of human beings who happen to be Christian, Zorastrian, Ba'hai - the rights of gay people - of dissenters - these really should be the true focus of NGO's.
Meanwhile of course people in open, democratic societies must always go overboard to protect the weak within our own borders, argue for human rights abroad and try to ensure a free, objective press.
But, I think the NGO's have gone nuts regarding Israel and are doing next to zip about gross human rights violations around the world and this disturbs me deeply, as does the financial and political interference from Europe, etc, in internal Israeli affairs.
That is astonishing and very upsetting especially in regard to recent European history vis a vis the Jewish people.