Lisa, Daniel Sharon was arrested the other day when he arrived to the country at Ben Gurion airport and faces similar charges to what they have brought against you guys. This is very unsettling!

Hi Lisa, nice work on the haaretz piece. I will link to my blog. My article on wisdom of this law is forthcoming

It’s amazing how much paranoia and incompetence exist in our neck of the woods. Isn’t it?

And it’s sad how detrimental to peace, to openmindedness, and to a better understanding of our neighbours, this paranoia and incompetence have become.

what happened to Ha-aretz???
those talkbacks *-*
it’s like “kahana-chai” is commenting there *_*

I have a few thoughts that I can’t quite tie together yet, but here goes:

Over the past several years, reporters (some good, some who couldn’t carry your jockstrap) in the US have been arrested for or forced to testify about government/military programs they have revealed. The US Justice Department has also said that some reporters could potentially face charges of sedition for such reports. Reporters are routinely condemned as unpatriotic (by other reporters as well as by government officials) and had their work described as “providing aid and comfort to the enemy” (the statutory language for treason). I know these examples don’t apply to you, although the American documentarian Michael Moore has been threatened with and may still face charges for traveling to Cuba for his recent film _Sicko_; his situation seems somewhat similar to yours.

I don’t know how common it is for Israeli reporters to be targeted by law enforcement over the content of their reports, but when it happens here, it frightens me. It has a noticeable effect on the topics and quality of reports about subjects that are relevant and important, and which form the basis for sometimes extreme actions my government takes in my name and in the name of all US citizens.

I’m glad you don’t seem too concerned about your own situation; I hope your confidence that it will go nowhere is well-founded. And I really hope you are able to continue researching and writing without having to constantly look over your shoulder to see if the police are just waiting to arrest you. For your sake and mine.

Curt, I know! Haaretz tends to attract wacko commenters (no idea why), but it looks as though a whole lot more people than usual are off their meds.

I guess that the authorities investigated you now in order to scare off other journalists from going to enemy states. That’s the only plausible explanation I can think about. Other than that, there’s absolutely no reason for this investigation many months after your visits to Lebanon, and after it has been all over the media.

This is silly. Are you sure this is happening in Israel and not in Iran?

Kamangir, what made you think that it couldn’t be happening here? Why would that be so? Because of the impression? There are numerous examples to prove ‘perpetrating the law’ (even if half of israel is doing so, in some cases) will be held against you whenever it is convenient for whoever wants to accredit profit for personal or national interest out of it, at ANY time.