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By

David Hazony

Opinion

Security comes before press freedom

April 15, 2010 14:34
Anat Kamm, who  has been under house arrest accused of stealing and leaking thousands of sensitive IDF papers
2 min read

There is nothing more basic to the adult Israeli experience than taking your kid to his first day in the IDF. For his whole life you’ve preached about how important it is to serve. National pride, security, the Zionist mission, becoming an adult — all these are wrapped up together. And then, that fateful morning, you discover you are exactly like those other wimpy parents who seem to care more about their children’s welfare than that of the state. National security and Zionism be damned; just make sure my kid comes home safe.

It is only with this experience in mind that we can understand the intense public outrage directed against Anat Kamm, the 23-year-old reporter who has been under house arrest for stealing over 2,000 top-secret documents from the major-general under whom she served in 2007; and against Uri Blau, the Haaretz reporter she fed them to, who has been hiding in the UK for fear of arrest.

But the story is far from straightforward. Is it about freedom of the press? About loyalty to the uniform? About the risk posed to Israeli soldiers by the real possibility that the information Ms Kamm leaked — including details of deployments, open-fire orders and battle plans — might fall into wrong hands? Is it about the “war crimes” that some documents allegedly described? Or about the intelligence breach?

Judith Miller of the Daily Beast did Israelis a service by writing openly about something many Israelis knew but could not report on because of a sweeping gag order. Ms Miller’s piece was discussed intensely, though without detail, on IDF Radio, leading directly to the order being lifted.