tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13539920.post-11719308512748893572008-01-18T01:17:00.000+02:002008-01-18T01:20:42.289+02:00Olmert targets the blogosphere<div align="justify"><em>by Lurker</em><br /><br />For those who have been paying attention, the last few weeks have seen a draconian <a title="http://bogieworks.blogs.com/treppenwitz/2008/01/shameful.html" href="http://bogieworks.blogs.com/treppenwitz/2008/01/shameful.html">crackdown on the civil rights of Jewish dissidents</a> by the Olmert government. Some examples:<br /><br />· People have been arrested and interrogated by the police <a title="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3491689,00.html" href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3491689,00.html">for putting up anti-Bush and anti-Olmert posters</a>.<br /><br />· People have been arrested and detained by the police <a title="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Blogs/Message.aspx/2520" href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Blogs/Message.aspx/2520">for distributing literature to the foreign press</a>.<br /><br />· There are seven children, all girls between the ages of 13 to 15, who have been <a title="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/124939" href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/124939">imprisoned for three weeks now</a>, after being arrested for their presence in an unauthorized hilltop community. (One child was <a title="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/124955" href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/124955">released this afternoon</a>.) According to Dr. Yitzchak Kadman of Israel's National Child Welfare Council and others, they are being <a title="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/124939" href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/124939">subjected to criminal abuse</a>.<br /><br />The Israeli media has had little to say about all these outrages.<br /><br />Today, the crackdown has reached the blogosphere:<br /><br />According to <a title="http://mysticalpaths.blogspot.com/2008/01/intimidation.html" href="http://mysticalpaths.blogspot.com/2008/01/intimidation.html">this post</a> (see also <a title="http://mysticalpaths.blogspot.com/2008/01/interrogation.html" href="http://mysticalpaths.blogspot.com/2008/01/interrogation.html">here</a>), a blogger (<a title="http://www.blogger.com/profile/7575802" href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/7575802">Reb. Nati</a>) was brought in today by the Israeli police, and interrogated by the Shabak (!), apparently – according to the questions he was asked – for the crime of having expressed anti-government opinions on his blog.<br /><br />If we are silent, the evil is guaranteed to continue growing. Today, it was Reb. Nati; tomorrow it can be any one of us.<br /><br />Every blogger in the JBlogosphere ought to publicize and condemn this immediately. This should have absolutely nothing to do with whether one is "right-wing" or "left-wing", "religious" or "secular". Everybody who values freedom and democracy should speak out. And kol haKavod to DovBear for having <a title="http://dovbear.blogspot.com/2008/01/is-famous-shin-bet-afraid-of-blog.html" href="http://dovbear.blogspot.com/2008/01/is-famous-shin-bet-afraid-of-blog.html">already done so</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><i>Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael <span style="font-size:130%;">טובה הארץ מאד מאד</span></i><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/JBlogoshere" rel="tag"></a><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Israel" rel="tag"></a><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Zionism" rel="tag"></a><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Shomron" rel="tag"></a><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Gaza" rel="tag"></a><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Settlements" rel="tag"></a><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Aliya" rel="tag"></a><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Muqata" rel="tag"></a><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Jameel" rel="tag"></a> </div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/13539920-1171930851274889357?l=muqata.blogspot.com'/></div>Jameel @ The Muqatahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15890095633246557332noreply@blogger.com10