Tim lawsonThe Anat Kam Affair and freedom of the press
April 13th 2010 15:28
On Monday, The Tel Aviv District Court allowed several new details in the Anat Kam affair to surface.
The Anat Kam affair has raised so many controversial and important issues. A major issue of tension currently is the lax security that allowed Kam to get away with stealing highly classified documents.
Justice Zeev Hammer, who presided over the court hearings, described the security failures at the GOC Central Command chief's office as "astounding," adding that he was "shocked to learn of these incomprehensible failures and negligent data protection."
One of the first questions of interest that arises out of the Anat Kam story, is the motivation Kam had for stealing and copying such copious amounts of classified military information and then leaking them. Why did she do it?
The information cleared for publication on Monday included two statements made by Kam whilst being interrogated by the Shin Bet. The first statement said, "There were some aspects of the IDF's operational procedures in the West Bank that I felt should be public knowledge.”
She then added: "I couldn't make a big enough difference during my service. I thought exposing (procedures) would bring about a change… When I was burning the CDs I kept thinking that history tends to forgive people who expose war crimes."
In her second statement, Kam said she “turned to reporters assuming the Military Censor would disallow the publication of any classifieds or compromising Material.”
So it appears that Kam’s motivation was to expose elements of the IDF’s operations that she believed were evidence of war crimes.
One of the most important issues highlighted by the Anat Kam affair concerns freedom of the press: The role of the media in a democratic society is to take on a watchdog role for the actions of that nation’s government. The Fourth Estate functions to alert the people of their government’s actions, good or bad. Defining the role of the press in this way, I don’t believe Kam’s actions were out of synch with her role and duty as a journalist.
Kam’s lawyer, Eitan Lehman, has stated that none of actions carried out by Kam undermined national security. Lehman argued that Kam’s case threatens Israel’s democracy and press freedom and dismissed the charges against Kam saying “All the documents published by Blau were cleared for publication by the censor."
"At the end of the day, we have a dangerous precedent here, whereby the handing over of material to an Israeli newspaper with the censor's approval is seen by the Prosecutor's Office as equivalent to contact with a foreign agent," Lehman said. "The very notion of presenting information to the Israeli public alone is taken as an intention to hurt national security."
"This very argument is dangerous to anyone who believes in Israeli democracy and in the freedom of the press” argued Lehman. “Anat is not part of an extremist political group of any kind…she's Israeli, Zionist, and objects to insubordination."
The Anat Kam affair has raised so many controversial and important issues. A major issue of tension currently is the lax security that allowed Kam to get away with stealing highly classified documents.
Justice Zeev Hammer, who presided over the court hearings, described the security failures at the GOC Central Command chief's office as "astounding," adding that he was "shocked to learn of these incomprehensible failures and negligent data protection."
One of the first questions of interest that arises out of the Anat Kam story, is the motivation Kam had for stealing and copying such copious amounts of classified military information and then leaking them. Why did she do it?
The information cleared for publication on Monday included two statements made by Kam whilst being interrogated by the Shin Bet. The first statement said, "There were some aspects of the IDF's operational procedures in the West Bank that I felt should be public knowledge.”
She then added: "I couldn't make a big enough difference during my service. I thought exposing (procedures) would bring about a change… When I was burning the CDs I kept thinking that history tends to forgive people who expose war crimes."
In her second statement, Kam said she “turned to reporters assuming the Military Censor would disallow the publication of any classifieds or compromising Material.”
So it appears that Kam’s motivation was to expose elements of the IDF’s operations that she believed were evidence of war crimes.
One of the most important issues highlighted by the Anat Kam affair concerns freedom of the press: The role of the media in a democratic society is to take on a watchdog role for the actions of that nation’s government. The Fourth Estate functions to alert the people of their government’s actions, good or bad. Defining the role of the press in this way, I don’t believe Kam’s actions were out of synch with her role and duty as a journalist.
Kam’s lawyer, Eitan Lehman, has stated that none of actions carried out by Kam undermined national security. Lehman argued that Kam’s case threatens Israel’s democracy and press freedom and dismissed the charges against Kam saying “All the documents published by Blau were cleared for publication by the censor."
"At the end of the day, we have a dangerous precedent here, whereby the handing over of material to an Israeli newspaper with the censor's approval is seen by the Prosecutor's Office as equivalent to contact with a foreign agent," Lehman said. "The very notion of presenting information to the Israeli public alone is taken as an intention to hurt national security."
"This very argument is dangerous to anyone who believes in Israeli democracy and in the freedom of the press” argued Lehman. “Anat is not part of an extremist political group of any kind…she's Israeli, Zionist, and objects to insubordination."
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