‘Israel Hayom,’ where democracy is for Jews alone

By The Seventh Eye February 14, 2015 | Edit

The pro-Netanyahu newspaper launched a new online questionnaire to help readers decide which party represents them. Jewish readers, that is.

By Oren Persico / ‘The 7th Eye’

Israel Hayom, the most widely-distributed newspaper in the country, continues to exclude Arab citizens from its coverage of the upcoming elections. A new web-based initiative that gives the reader the opportunity to learn which political party supports his or her worldview is geared toward Jews only, like many of the polls conducted by the newspaper.

Joint List leader, Ayman Odeh, speaks during the party’s Hebrew-language launch event, Tel Aviv, February 11, 2015. (Photo: Activestills.org)

Until recently, Israel Hayom’s elections coverage section included a header with photos of all the party heads who are expected to be elected to the next Knesset. That is, except for the non-Jewish parties. After Hadash, Ra’am-Ta’al and Balad united form the Joint List, Ayman Odeh’s face went missing from the header. Odeh, who leads the Joint List, finally managed to make it into the header last week, although now it turns out that this was nothing more than a momentary victory in the struggle over fair elections coverage.

On Thursday morning, the front page of Israel Hayom included the headline “Test yourself: Which party fits you?” The paper invited its readers to go to its website to “find out where they fit on the political map of the 2015 elections.” The online questionnaire was created in partnership with the Hagal-Hahadash polling company. After doing answering several questions, the reader can discover which party is closest to his or her political beliefs.

The Joint List was missing from the initiative launch. The reader is asked to respond to questions on the economy, security and religion, but is only matched up with the positions of the Jewish parties. The Joint List was added shortly thereafter, but the final question still remains, clarifying for whom the whole thing exists in the first place: “How do you define yourself? First as a Jew and then as an Israeli, or first as an Israeli and then as a Jew?”

An Israeli citizen who is not Jewish and wants to fill out the questionnaire cannot answer the last question. For Israel Hayom, democracy is for Jews alone.

This article was first published in Hebrew by The 7th Eye media watchdog website. It is reproduced here with permission.

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TEST TEST GAL Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war. The world is reeling from Israel’s unprecedented onslaught on Gaza, inflicting mass devastation and death upon besieged Palestinians, as well as the atrocious attack and kidnappings by Hamas in Israel on October 7. Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing this violence. We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The bloodshed has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed by the army, are seizing the opportunity to intensify their attacks on Palestinians. The most far-right government in Israel’s history is ramping up its policing of dissent, using the cover of war to silence Palestinian citizens and left-wing Jews who object to its policies. This escalation has a very clear context, one that +972 has spent the past 14 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism, entrenched occupation and apartheid, and a normalized siege on Gaza. We are well positioned to cover this perilous moment – but we need your help to do it. This terrible period will challenge the humanity of all of those working for a better future in this land. Palestinians and Israelis are already organizing and strategizing to put up the fight of their lives. Can we count on your support? +972 Magazine is a leading media voice of this movement, a desperately needed platform where Palestinian and Israeli journalists, activists, and thinkers can report on and analyze what is happening, guided by humanism, equality, and justice. Join us.

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