The Jewish Report treated Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils unfairly by refusing him the right to reply to a critical article and instead misrepresenting his response, said the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) on Saturday.
”No publication worth its salt would refuse somebody the right to reply to an article that mentions that person by name, and especially in an instance where the person is directly called on to answer questions,” said FXI executive director Jane Duncan.
”In refusing Kasrils the right of reply, the Jewish Report has trashed the basic principle of fairness.”
The Jewish Report published an opinion piece by Anthony Posner, which questioned Kasrils’s stand on Israel, then declined to publish Kasrils’s response, despite telling him it would.
”Also, the actual contents of Kasrils’s response bears little resemblance to what the paper’s editorial says he wrote,” said Duncan.
”He is thus being misrepresented by the newspaper, which makes it even more unpalatable that he cannot respond. These features raise serious questions about the editorial quality of the newspaper.”
The publication referred to Kasrils’s response as ”hate speech” but the FXI disagreed.
”The crucial element of incitement to cause harm must be present for any speech to be regarded as hate speech. Incitement means calling on people to engage in harmful actions; the call to action must be unambiguous.
”Likening certain policing or military measures that the Israeli state uses to Nazi measures does not meet this objective test.”
Duncan said the accusation of ”hate speech” was often misused.
”As an organisation that defends free speech and freedom of the media, we are becoming increasingly tired of the ‘hate speech’ exception in our Constitution being misinterpreted and misused by institutions like the Jewish Report to stifle what they consider to be disagreeable speech.”
Duncan said the Jewish Report came out of the incident ”looking like a mere extension of Zionism’s repressive project rather than as a forum for debate within a deeply divided religious community”. — Sapa