Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Wednesday links

From Ian:

California College Students Press for Hatred of Israel

"After the California Assembly passed resolution HR 35, which "Calls upon officials of California public post secondary educational institutions to increase their efforts to condemn acts of anti-Semitism on their campuses," the University of California Students Association Board of Directors drafted a petition which opposes HR 35."

Barry Rubin: A Turning Point in Egypt: Not on Direction But on the Speed of Islamist Transformation

"President Mursi has rescinded much of his decree claiming total power right now. But he could accomplish much the same thing after the Constitution is confirmed and perhaps by forcing reinstatement of the parliament whose election was declared invalid by a court. At any rate, Mursi's concession has not quieted the demonstrations--another sign that concessions in the Middle East don't bring agreements--and so this crisis isn't going away.
There are three broad possibilities: the regime will fall; the opposition will be repressed; or there will be an increasingly violent civil war."

Abbas’ Fatah Praises Hamas’ Call For Israel’s Demise

"The Roman statesman Cato the Elder is remembered by history for concluding his speeches with the words, “Carthage must be destroyed.” Today, the refrain from Hamas is that “Israel must be destroyed” – and Fatah wants to unite with them. The international response? Negotiations with Fatah/PA. Where the facts are so radically at variance with received wisdom, change comes hard and slow. But until Israel drops the politically correct pretense that the Abbas regime is a peace-maker, it is difficult to imagine this changing."

FM, Livni slam world stance on Israel-Palestinian conflict

Some world leaders would sacrifice Israel "without batting an eyelash," Liberman tells 'The Jerusalem Post' Diplomatic Conference; Livni: International community still equating IDF, terrorist casualties.
"When push comes to shove many world leaders will be willing to sacrifice Israel without batting an eyelash," Liberman said in his address. "We are not willing to become a second Czechoslovakia and sacrifice vital security interests."

Congressional letter urges Obama to shut PLO office

"Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), Howard Berman (D-Calif.), Edward Royce (R-Calif.) and Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) are circulating the letter that says the lawmakers are “deeply disappointed and upset that the Palestinian leadership rebuffed the entreaties of your Administration and the Congress” by requesting non-member observer state status at the United Nations."

IDF: Offices searched in Ramallah served terror
IDF troops break into Women's Union, the Palestinian NGO Network and Addameer offices, confiscate computers.

"The army carried out searches overnight of offices in Ramallah used by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist organization, an IDF spokeswoman said on Tuesday."

IDF Defends Policy of Restraint Following Multiple Stone-Throwing Incidents

"At a press briefing a senior IDF officer in the West Bank defended the army’s policy of restraint. “The policy has led to safer roads and fewer casualties. Had we fired indiscriminately during the many protests surrounding Operation Pillar of Defense and shot at every 13-year-old stone thrower, then we would have seen the operation spill over to the West Bank,” he said."

BBC Watch: BBC sidesteps Hamas terrorism and oppression in order to advance a narrative

"But no less disturbing to them should be the fact that a campaigning organization such as the ISM – the whole raison d’etre of which is to discredit, defame and destroy Israel – is capable of being more open and honest about Hamas oppression of women than the BBC."

Another Star Soccer Play Denies Involvement With Anti-Israel Petition

"Eden Hazard has denied any involvement with a petition released last Friday supporting Palestinian Arab groups and protesting the European Under 21 Championship, which is scheduled to be held in Israel next year.
The petition was organized by former Tottenham and Sevilla striker Frederic Kanoute, and also featured the name of former Chelsea star Didier Drogba, who has since denied involvement."

Obama planning direct talks with Iran; US will strike in 4-5 months if they don’t bear fruit, Israeli TV report says
Channel 10 News says US president keeping Israel out of the loop, holds Netanyahu personally responsible for leaks from UN reports

"The channel’s veteran diplomatic correspondent Emmanuel Rosen reported that President Barack Obama had decided to bypass Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and leave Israel out of the loop. Rosen said that Obama believed Netanyahu was personally behind a recent series of purported leaks from reports produced by the UN’s International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) about the Iranian program."

Iran: Proud of Our Support for Hamas and Islamic Jihad
Iran boasts close relations with the terrorist organizations operating in Gaza, says the relations are better than ever.

"Iran is continuing to boast close relations with the terrorist organizations operating in Gaza.
A spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that the relations between Iran and both Hamas and the Islamic Jihad are better than they have ever been."

Anti-Semitism 'doubled' after Middle East conflict
Police have been asked to take "proactive measures" to prevent further anti-Semitic incidents across Britain, after November's Israel-Gaza clashes prompted a spike in anti-Semitism.

"The Community Security Trust (CST), which monitors anti-Semitic incidents, suggested a possible doubling in the total number took place during one week in the London area as a result of violence in the Middle East."

Dutch Jews slam sale of debris from Nazi camps
Management claim revenues will be used for the sites’ preservation

"The Dutch Central Jewish Board condemned two recent incidents involving the sale by museums of debris from Nazi concentration camps.
On Sunday, the board issued a statement slamming the sale of debris from Camp Vught, which was a transit camp for Jews located in the southern Netherlands."

British PM Announces First 'Tech Envoy to Israel'
British PM announced creation of a “tech envoy to Israel" as part of a move to encourage further co-ordination between the two countries.

“Just last week the Tech Hub and UKTI brought over 19 Israeli tech companies over here to meet the best of British companies and investors. And I am delighted to announce today that we are appointing Saul Klein, someone with huge experience in early-stage investment, to be the UK’s first tech envoy to Israel," Cameron continues.

Israeli scientist awarded prestigious physics prize
Zohar Komargodski recognized for his work on dynamics of four-dimensional field theories

"This is the second consecutive year that a Weizmann Institute alumnus has received an award from the prestigious Fundamental Physics Prize Foundation. Last year, an inaugural Fundamental Physics Prize was awarded to Weitzmann graduate Nathan Seiberg, who is now also at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton."

Israel’s China challenge
The world’s second-largest economic power knows very little about Israel, although those who wish us ill have been telling it plenty. We should and can change that, and the sooner the better

"Younger Chinese journalists, by contrast, are less focused on Palestinian cries of victimhood, unimpressed by the underdeveloped and failing Arab states, and more excited by the innovation and creativity of Israel. Set against that, though, is the party’s traditional identification with the underdog, since China sees itself as constantly filling that role itself, whether in its relationship to the British, the West, and/or the Japanese. The Chinese recognize that Israel is tiny and outnumbered, but Israel has the US in its corner, so that leaves the Palestinians as underdogs. The IDF and the Mossad enjoy almost mythical status here, but again, that leaves the Palestinians as the weaker party."

Navajo President Visits Israel, Lends Support

Navajo Nation president arrived in Israel amid Hanukkah celebrations, to learn about the country’s agricultural programs and tourism.

Israel Daily Picture: Who Was the American Preacher Who Took This Rare 1859 Picture of the Western Wall?

It was Mendel Diness who also took this photo of a derelict looking Dome of the Rock in 1859.

Notice the weeds?

Also:
The day of the dhimmi is done

New Fatah logo erases Israel

The first war of national liberation

How do goods get to Gaza? (IDF Blog)

"Rabin would have cancelled the Oslo accords and sent Arafat back to Tunisia"

From Shmuel Hollander, former cabinet secretary under Yitzchak Rabin and Shimon Peres, in Ma'ariv (excerpted by MFA):

The author, who served as Cabinet Secretary to the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and his successor Shimon Peres, declares: "I have no doubt that if he had not been murdered, Yitzhak Rabin would have cancelled the Oslo accords and sent Arafat and his cohorts back to Tunisia," and adds: "I sobered up at that time, with great pain, from the vision of peace in which I believed and which crumbled before my eyes in the blood of innocent Jews."

The paper avers that "Whoever talks about 'two states for two peoples' is, for all intents and purposes, talking about establishing a Hamas state in Judea and Samaria in addition to Gaza since it is clear that Hamas will take control of Judea and Samaria, whether by elections or violence (as in Gaza). This means an Iranian proxy a few kilometers from the heart of Israel."

The author asserts: "The gap between Israel's positions, including moderate elements among the public, and the Palestinians is immense and unbridgeable. Not in our time," and bids his readers closely read Khaled Mashaal's recent speech in Gaza.

The paper suggests that "Even if there was not even one settlement in Judea and Samaria, it would not be possible to reach a lasting peace," and adds: "Whoever accuses the Government of halting the diplomatic process and promises to change the situation is selling the public an illusion with no basis in reality. It would be better to tell the truth: We are fated to continue fighting for our land and our lives and to live on our swords for a long time, as in the past 100 years. It is much easier to become caught up in the euphoria of peace, as in the days of Oslo. The truth is hard and painful, but it is preferable to illusions."

(h/t Yoel)

What do Jordan and Denmark have in common? Advising Jews to hide their Jewishness.

From Times of Israel:

The Jordanian Tourism Ministry on Wednesday warned Israeli visitors not to wear outwardly Jewish garb while visiting the Hashemite Kingdom and to avoid performing Jewish rituals during their stay.

According to a copy of a ministry memo issued at the end of November, Amman instructed Jordanian tour operators to inform their Israeli counterparts to advise Israeli visitors not to wear “Jewish dress” or perform “religious rituals in public places” so as to prevent an unfriendly reaction by Jordanian citizens.

The Jordan Society of Tourism and Travel Agents forwarded on the imperative to Jordanian tour operators, one of whom forwarded a copy to The Times of Israel.

Here is the warning notice. It came as a result of Jordanians complaining about Jewish tourists acting too Jewish for refined Jordanian tastes.

Good thing something like that could never happen in more civilized countries, right? Oh, wait:

Israeli and Jewish officials in Denmark on Wednesday warned Jews to avoid openly wearing religious symbols and dress when moving about Copenhagen amid rising anti-Israeli sentiment.

"We advise Israelis who come to Denmark and want to go to the synagogue to wait to don their skull caps until they enter the building and not to wear them in the street, irrespective of whether the areas they are visiting are seen as being safe," Israel's ambassador to Denmark, Arthur Avnon, told AFP.

Avnon added that visitors were also advised not to "speak Hebrew loudly" or demonstrably wear Star of David jewelry.

Denmark's national Jewish Religious Community organisation has also advised its members, and those at the private Jewish school in Copenhagen, to exercise caution.

Caroline Jewish School headmaster Jan Hansen told daily Jyllands-Posten: "It is not something that we do officially, but if the issue comes up we would say (to our pupils) they should think twice before walking into certain areas of Copenhagen with a skull cap or Star of David."

The warnings come a few weeks after an attack on the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen in the wake of increasing cross-border tensions between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and Israeli plans to expand settlements.

Some 20 demonstrators lobbed stones and fireworks at the embassy building on November 19. Graffiti with the word "childkillers" was painted on the embassy entrance wall.

No one was hurt in the incident and one person has since been charged in the attack.

Avnon said that after the attack, a lower-ranking officer from Denmark's foreign ministry had called the embassy offering to pay for some of the damage to the building, but that otherwise official Denmark had not reacted to the incident.

More bad news from Egypt, including the beauty of chopping off hands

From Reuters:

An Egyptian Copt arrested on suspicion of posting online an anti-Islam film that ignited Muslim protests around the world was sentenced on Wednesday to three years in prison, a court source said

Computer science graduate Alber Saber, 27, was arrested at his Cairo home on Sept. 13 after neighbours accused him of uploading sections of the film “Innocence of Muslims” and making another movie mocking all religions.

And from MEMRI:

Following are excerpts from an interview with Ahmad Al-Zind, chairman of the Egyptian Judges Club, which aired on Dream 2 TV on November 26, 2012:

Ahmad Al-Zind: The judges have a burning desire to instate shari’a laws regarding Islamic hudud punishments and the diya indemnity. The UAE has resolved this issue without problems and in a simple way – the first article of its penal code states that shari’a law will be implemented with regard to the hudud and diya. When shari’a laws are implemented, they leave no room for bargaining. Any country that refrains from implementing these punishments is lacking in many ways. People should not fear the implementation of the hudud punishments, because this could be more lenient to the accused then ta’zir punishment [in which the judge has discretion].

Interviewer: How come?

Ahmad Al-Zind: Let’s consider, for example, the punishment for theft. For you to be able to apply the hudud punishment for theft, the thief must have stolen a certain amount, measured in gold… The value of the stolen goods must reach a certain amount. The crime must have been committed in a locked place. If someone leaves their gold or money in the living room and the maid takes it, she is not subject to the hudud punishment, because the money is considered to have been left unattended. The person who is sentenced to such punishments must have been provided with work and livelihood by society, so that he would not have to steal from others. After all that, if he still steals, his hand is chopped off.

[…]

Take, for example, the hudud punishment for fornication. Proving this crime in our time is practically impossible.

Interviewer: You need four witnesses…

Ahmad Al-Zind: Credible ones! Yet people terrify you with talk about the hudud.

[…]

There is no backwardness in Islam, and people who claim otherwise are backward themselves. Allah’s mercy towards His servants is evident in the fact that the person administering lashings places a notebook in his armpit, preventing him from inflicting pain by raising his arm too high, lest the notebook should fall.

Also from MEMRI:

Following are excerpts from a video featuring child preacher Muslim Sai’d, which was posted on the Internet on November 2, 2012:

Muslim Sa’id: Yusuf said at the end of Sura Yusuf: “Oh my Lord! Thou hast indeed bestowed upon me some power, and taught me the interpretation of dreams and events. Oh Creator of the heavens and the earth, you are my protector in this world and the world to come.”
[…]
Instating the shari’a is the solution to all the problems of our Islamic nation. When, Allah willing, the shari’a is instated, it will provide solutions to all the problems.
[…]
People say that the shari’a is about lashing, stoning, and chopping off hands. I’d like to tell them that the shari’a is like a very beautiful garden, and the Islamic hudud punishments constitute the walls around this garden, keeping out the thieves.

Video of Gaza children imitating their terrorist heroes

One can imagine that Hamas encourages this sort of play. Not only because it is a great recruiting tool for them, but also because they would love to see the IDF mistakenly blow these kids up.

(h/t Israel Under Fire)

One "collaborator" murdered in Gaza only guilty of badmouthing Hamas

Al Majd, a website dedicated to protecting Gaza from Israeli intelligence, published the "confessions" of one of the "collaborators" who was gruesomely and publicly murdered during Pillar of Defense.

But his "confession" does not contain any actionable intelligence. Instead, it reflects the typical skepticism and disillusionment of someone who sees corruption in his society.

The "collaborator" was a taxi driver who would talk with his passengers about Hamas corruption. The "confession" includes his complaints about Suha Arafat stealing a fortune and spending it in Paris, Hamas stealing and storing fuel for its own purposes while Gazans went without, blaming Hamas for the blockade of Gaza, criticism of the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit, Hamas stealing money, the pointlessness of the 2009 Gaza war, Hamas indifference to the fate of ordinary Gazans, and Hamas importing luxury cars only for their own members.

The charge is that the driver was spreading rumors on the orders of Israeli intelligence. According to the site, he confessed.

And, the article concludes, "the resistance has delivered justice to this spy during the battle of shale stones."

In March, Hamas arrested dozens of taxi drivers for "spreading rumors" about the fuel crisis in Gaza.

No doubt every disgruntled Gazan is a spy for Israel, because everyone knows it is really a paradise.

Israeli Arab students score higher in tests than those from every Arab country

From JPost:

Israeli students from all sectors of society registered dramatic increases in test scores in all subjects, the Education Ministry announced Tuesday.

According to an Education Ministry summary of 2011 test scores, Israeli students registered their highest scores on international tests since they started being recorded in the late 1990s.

Hebrew speakers ranked in the top-10 in the world in all subjects, while all socio-economic sectors registered increases in test scores. Arabic-speakers, while still lagging behind their Hebrew-speaking counterparts, also scored higher than in previous years in mathematics, sciences and reading comprehension.

In mathematics, Israel catapulted from 24th place in 2007 to 7th place in 2011, while achieving impressive scores in sciences and reading.

Arab media, predictably, is emphasizing the gap between Hebrew-speaking and Arabic-speaking students, saying that this shows that the Israeli education system favors Jews over Arabs.

This is indeed a concern, and one that Israel seems to be taking seriously - if not, why did the Arabic-speaking students improve as well?

But looking at the actual scores from the Arabic-speaking students alone shows another fact: Across the board, Israeli Arabs scored higher than their counterparts in Arab countries.

In reading, fourth grade Israeli Arabs scored 479 (vs. 568 for Hebrew-speakers.) But no Arab country scored higher - UAE 439, Saudi Arabia 430, Qatar 425, Oman 391.

In science, eighth grade Israeli Arabs scored 481 (520 for Hebrew speakers.) Compare to UAE 465, Bahrain 452, Jordan 449, Morocco 376 - and the PA with 420.

In math, eighth grade Israeli Arabs scored 465 (vs. 536 for Hebrew speakers.) Compare that to UAE 456, Lebanon 449, Morocco 391, Oman 366 - and the PA with 404.

So yes, there is a gap within Israel, and one that the Education Ministry is addressing. But isn't it interesting that Arabs are more upset over the gap within Israel and don't care at all about the gap between Arabs in Israel and the abysmal performance by Arabs outside Israel?

When you live in a society where blaming others is more important than improving yourselves, one can expect both this type of reaction and many more decades of poor scores by students in Arab countries.

After all, can you imagine an initiative in Arab countries to copy the Israeli educational model and curricula in order to improve their own scores?

(h/t Yoel)

Australian cartoonist loves his anti-semitic themes; paper defends him

From the Australian Jewish News:

THE editor-in-chief of The Age has defended a series of cartoons published over the last week, one of which the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission (ADC) labelled as “virulent hate-speech”, that have outraged the Melbourne Jewish community.

A cartoon by Michael Leunig last Wednesday adapted German pastor Martin Niemoeller’s famous “First they came for the Jews” statement about the apathy of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power, changing it to “First they came for the Palestinians”.

The cartoon then states: “I did not speak out because if I did, doors would close to me, hateful mail would arrive, bitterness and spiteful condemnations would follow.”

ADC chairperson Dvir Abramovich said the cartoon “crossed the line”, using anti-Semitic words and themes.

“‘They’ of course referred to the Nazis. In Leunig’s cartoon, however, it is the Israelis who are the Nazis,” he said. “Leunig’s second anti-Semitic theme [is] that anyone who supports the Palestinians will immediately be besieged by the all-powerful Jewish lobby. This is the kind of hateful rhetoric you would expect on anti-Semitic websites, not The Age.”

A second Leunig cartoon on Saturday portrayed a character – presumably Jewish – at Mount Sinai receiving the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” before shooting both Moses and God dead, then standing on the mountain wearing God’s crown. Then a Bruce Petty cartoon on Monday, November 26, showed a boat of Palestinians with the banner “The Right of Return – UN” approaching a heavily fortified and armed Israel flying the banner “The Right to be Here – Bible”.

“This not only ignores the unquestionable fact that the UN created the modern Jewish State, but also overlooks thousands of years of Jewish history in the Land of Israel,” Abramovich said.

Defending the cartoons, Age editor-in-chief Andrew Holden said the cartoonists were all “very experienced, and well aware of the sensitivities around Middle East politics”.

“However, they are also entitled to express their personal opinions, even if these are challenging.”

I am not one to charge anti-semitism at the drop of a hat, but both of the Leunig cartoons clearly fit that definition.

The anti-semitism here is from the obvious attempt at an analogy between today's Israeli Jews and the Nazis. Besides the fact that such a comparison is sickeningly obscene, it is also one that anti-semites love specifically because it causes such pain to Jews. They love the supposed image of Jews acting, they claim, like their murderers.

Claiming that this could have applied to any ethnic group, as Leunig does in his response, is disingenuous. He obviously and deliberately chose to equate Jews to Nazis - not Chinese, not Syrians, not Americans. Imagine a similar cartoon about Copts in Egypt or Kurds in Turkey - it simply wouldn't work. The entire impact of the cartoon, the delicious irony, would be diminished by using anyone besides Jews as the Nazi-equivalent.

There is of course one other anti-semtiic motif at play, which is that the all-powerful Jewish lobby shuts down freedom of speech. This is rich coming from Leunig, who as far as I can tell is not worried about losing his job. In fact, he has been obsessed with demonizing Israel for years with no apparent impact to his fame or fortune. This cartoon is not only pure anti-semitism, it is a puerile attempt to make the cartoonist feel brave.

The second one is even more explicitly anti-semitic:

The Jews, recipients of the Ten Commandments, are not only murderers - but they are prophet-killers (as Muslims charge) and God-killers. (Dare I say "Christ-killers"?)

What can this cartoon represent except naked hate for, and incitement against, Jews? How else can it be interpreted?

Other cartoons of his, while horribly skewed, are not anti-semitic. A decade-old cartoon of his that was rejected by the same newspaper undoubtedly was.

Leunig's pitiful defense of his cartoons is taken apart by Galus Australis.

Orthodox Jewish basketball player at Northwestern

From ESPN last week:

Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, begins at sundown Saturday. But there's already cause for celebration among Jewish basketball fans thanks to Aaron Liberman, a freshman walk-on at Northwestern who also happens to be an Orthodox Jew. He hasn't yet appeared in a game this season because of a nasty case of shin splints, but he's easy to spot on the bench: He's the one wearing a yarmulke.

When Liberman is eventually given medical clearance to make his Northwestern debut, which he expects will be "pretty soon," he plans to wear his yarmulke on the court. (Northwestern is making two versions for him -- purple and white for home games, and purple and black for the road.) That will make him only the second yarmulke-clad player in Division I basketball history. The first such player was Tamir Goodman, the much-hyped "Jewish Jordan," who played for Towson in 2000 and 2001. But disagreements with a new coach derailed Goodman's college basketball career early in his sophomore year, leaving Division I hard courts yarmulke-free until Liberman's arrival this season.

And get this: Liberman, who's 6-foot-10 and was fifth in the nation in blocked shots for Valley Torah High School in Los Angeles in 2011, also plans to wear tzitzit -- the specially knotted fringes or tassels worn by observant Jews -- on the court. The tzitzit will be underneath his base-layer undershirt, and the fringes will be tucked into his shorts. Goodman didn't wear tzitzit while at Towson, so Liberman almost certainly will be Division I's first tzitzit-clad player. Mazel tov!

The article goes on to talk about how Division III basketball teams (like Yeshiva University) deals with yarmulkes, and has a hilarious aside about when the Mets pitching coach was seen on TV wearing a Mets yarmulke in 2010.

Chanukah song night 4: Matisyahu

All Proceeds through the End of Hanukkah will be donated to Hurricane Sandy Relief. For more info visit:http://bit.ly/MatisyahuHanukkah

Donate and download at http://bit.ly/MatisyahuHanukkah
Available on iTunes: http://smarturl.it/h55ln4
Available on Amazon: http://amzn.to/Tcev1n

(h/t Yerushalimey)

Turkey jails more journalists than any other country

From Now (Lebanon):

Turkey has been hailed as a beacon of democracy in a troubled region. Many cite it as an example for post-revolutionary countries of the Arab Spring, as it is held up as a successful fusion of liberalism and Islam.

But a report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) published on Tuesday sheds a different light on the country’s record of liberalism. With 49 journalists in prison, CPJ calls Turkey “the world’s worst jailer,” and it sits at the top of a list that includes Iran, China and Eritrea.

“There is no independent media left,” says Nuray Mert, one of the country’s most prolific journalists and columnists. Like her, many journalists in the country complain that an atmosphere of intimidation and self-censorship has reigned since Prime Minister Reccep Tayyip Erdogan began consolidating his power. Mert used to write for Turkey’s biggest papers and was a regular guest on political talk shows. This changed when Erdogan singled her out during a public speech for her criticism of government policies.

“I wrote a column saying that we have to take the Kurds seriously and not treat them as subjects, that we have to grant them collective rights,” says Mert of the 15 million Kurds in Turkey whom the government has denied cultural and political freedoms for decades.

In a speech after her column ran, Erdogan more or less accused Mert of treason. Her editors understood the message, and she was fired. “Later I got a call not to show up on TV anymore either.” She started receiving a flood of hate mail and threats. “I was afraid that someone from the ultra-right nationalists would attack me.”

Still, Mert was never arrested, unlike dozens of other journalists who were charged with “helping terrorist organizations.” Just reporting on the outlawed Kurdish Worker’s Party (PKK), passing on contact details or assigning stories on the organization is enough to be labeled a terrorist by the Turkish government.

Erdogan’s officials and the courts use draconian anti-terror legislation written after the military coup in the early 1980s. The cases are handled by “special-authority courts,” which can hold suspects in custody for years without trial. Detainees can have their access to their lawyers and files restricted and are often prohibited from communicating with anyone outside their detention centers.

In the past, these courts have practically erased the presumption of innocence.
“There is a new term for journalists used by the government,” says Elif Ilgaz, a leading press freedom advocate. “They call it ‘organized journalism’ to discredit us.”