Several years ago, ten individuals were put on trial for operating Arutz Sheva from a ship in the Mediterranean, which was accused of being a ?pirate? radio station by its detractors. One driving force, who worked tirelessly to bring honest, un-manipulated news to the Israeli public, was Ya?acov Katz, ?Ketzaleh?, as he is fondly known by many. It was clear then, and remains so now, that all communication of news was closed off to those of the political nationalistic Right ? that is, anyone who wanted to keep Israel?s heartland of ancient history whole.



Ketzaleh was also once a dear friend of Arik Sharon ? until he later disagreed with Arik?s policy of evacuating the pioneering settlers in order to create another Arab State of Palestine. Those who know Sharon also know that those who disagree with him are quickly ejected from his inner circle of friends and advisors.



Arutz Sheva became a nightmare for the often secretive Left under Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, Yossi Beilin, Yossi Sarid, et al. The hard Left had the three major Hebrew newspapers in their hands, as well as the two television stations and almost all of the radio stations. The only dissenting voice for the Right and from the Right was Arutz Sheva and, to a lesser degree, the Shas radio station, plus a few other small, religious stations.



But, the main target of the leftist Labor government was Arutz Sheva, due to its content and popularity, with a world-wide audience. With thuggish brutality, government officials often raided the station?s on-land offices to confiscate, break and never return or pay for their computers and technical equipment. They also raided Arutz Sheva?s broadcasting ship when it was in port for maintenance, destroying transmitters ? with malice.



This sounds like a scene from a movie about the USSR (or Russia under Vladimir Putin ? who has also recently attacked some of the Russian TV networks). These were the hard leftists, or Osloids, who wanted to keep their under-the-table dealing with Yasser Arafat and the Arabist U.S. State Department under deep cover. Arutz Sheva shined a light and this was not to be tolerated.



After all, secretly betraying your own nation to the likes of Yasser Arafat was not exactly something one wants broadcast around the world, or especially in Israel. But there was always the one gadfly, buzzing around, breaking open secrets and that was Arutz Sheva.



The Left was not particularly bothered by more than 100 illegal Arab stations, but they were particularly upset by Arutz Sheva. Some may recall that when peace activist Abie Nathan?s pirate radio broadcasting ship came within Israel?s territorial waters - in effect, breaking the law - in order to burble about peace and giving up Israel?s heartland, nothing was done. Government Labor leftists never said a word and didn?t have Nathan assaulted by the courts or have his equipment trashed.



When Sharon was elected (after former Prime Minister Ehud Barak invited the Hizbullah into Lebanon and offered to gift Arafat anything he and Bill Clinton wanted at Taba), it was expected that Sharon would re-balance the scales of justice. Instead, because he wanted to establish a Palestinian State with the "urging" of President Bush and Secretary Powell, he just put his thumb on the scales of justice and tilted it to what he and they wanted.



So now, you have Labor and Likud, normally two competing parties, in a shameful agreement to crush the only Free Israel radio station in Israel. To further expose Sharon?s plan to shut down the open voice of Arutz Sheva, he had his cabinet pass a resolution 11 to 5, authorizing legislation to impose stiff fines and possible prison sentences on those who advertise on unlicenced radio stations. Clearly, the target of this vulgar threat was mainly Arutz Sheva.



Arutz Sheva was the only free public voice to object to Arafat?s promises and plans to de-Judaize Judea , Samaria and Gaza and convert it into a terrorist state close to Israel?s population centers. Years ago, the Labor Left offered the ridiculous and since disproved excuse that Arutz Sheva?s broadcasting interfered with aviation at Ben Gurion Airport. That lie has recently been exhumed by Justice Minister Tommy Lapid, in order to insert a technological spin on a weak excuse to close down broadcasting appropriate for observant Jews and fundamentalist Christians world-wide.



Add to that the installation of a powerful transmitter for radio, plus another Arab Palestinian al-Jazeera pumping out hate-filled propaganda against the Free West, especially America and Israel. Prejudice, in this case, starts at home.



The cabal of Sharon, Limor Livnat, Tommy Lapid and Ehud Olmert pushed to ensure that the founding members of Arutz Sheva would first face sentencing by the Jerusalem Magistrate?s Court and then be forced to appeal to the ultra-Left Supreme Court, driven by the political activist, Supreme Court Chief Justice Aharon Barak.



The lower court found the Arutz Sheva managers and founders guilty of operating a ?pirate? station inside Israel?s territorial waters and they are awaiting sentencing. It?s not that Sharon wants them in jail (at least I hope not), but he is on a short leash to Bush, Powell and the Arabist State Department. Most of all, they don?t want any interference in their establishing of another Arab Palestinian State via the Road Map. That interference might come from Arutz Sheva pointing out that, after six major wars and unceasing terror, another Arab Palestinian State would create permanent war and the destruction of the Jewish State of Israel.



The Americans ought to know by now that neither the Arab Palestinians, nor the Muslim Iraqis, nor the Syrians, nor the Muslim Iranians will ever give Israel or America peace ? because the Arab Muslims continually say so. Prime Minister of Malaysia, addressing 57 Muslim countries, made that plain when he called for 1.3 billion Muslims to unite against Israel and the Free West, especially America. That demagogic address received standing applause.



But, for a short term political gain in America, they do not want this Arutz Sheva radio station, over which they have no control, exposing their political trickery; in effect, blowing their cover and giving democracy a chance to work.



Although the media in Israel and world wide is naturally Left-liberal, I wonder why they would not collectively protest the shutting down of a media voice, one of their own. Perhaps, despite their constant howling over freedom of the press, they really want to shut up any non-Left-liberal voices. To paraphrase: "First they came for the? then they came for the Jews and I didn?t protest. And when they came for me, there was no one left to protest."



The people who established this one lone voice of painful reality did not do it for money or prestige. It actually cost them lots of money for operational costs and to defend themselves in the court cases, wherein they have been unjustly accused and maligned. The Arutz Sheva organizers did it because they really knew that Arafat and his pals were (and are) lying bastards, dedicated to wiping out Israel to the very last man, woman and child. Many speakers have said these things to the people around the world through Arutz Sheva in a straightforward, unvarnished, non-political, truthful way. They were the accurate whistle-blowers of things to come. Various Israeli and other governments hated them for their exposes, which have been proven right.



In addition to truthful political issues, Arutz Sheva has also broadcast great Israeli/Jewish music and non-political informational programming, plus excellent Torah lessons for over 15 years ? against great opposition. These broadcasts accompanied and aided in the development of Torah in Israel and settlement of the Land. Bringing the ethics of Torah did not endear them to the Left, nor, presently, to Tommy Lapid, who seems to have a special and personal grudge against observant Jewry.



Ketzaleh, one of the truly great heroes among other heroes of this besieged nation, was nearly blown in half (his hip was shattered and separated by an Arab shell) during the Yom Kippur War, but he continues on (despite daily pain) to serve Israel and the Jewish people. I attempted to interview the Arutz Sheva people, but, because of their pending sentencing, they had to decline comment ? another way of closing their mouths.



However, there is a burning clash on-going in the Knesset over this political decision, rammed through the courts in order to close the voice of Arutz Sheva ? despite the 1999 Knesset vote of 40-30 to license the station. That vote was declared null and void by Supreme Court Chief Justice Barak ? the only time an Israeli Court dared to over-ride the lawmaking body of the Knesset. Obviously, the Labor Left and the leftist Supreme Court act in unison on matters that are supposed to remain hidden from the public.



In the time of Rabin/Peres, the great secrets not to be spoken about to the public were the creation and then the failure of the Oslo Accords and the ineptness of those who drew up this amateurishly drafted document. In fact, Yossi Beilin proudly admitted in public that, "We didn?t tell the Knesset or the Israeli people that we were negotiating with Yasser Arafat [when it was illegal to do so], because they would have stopped us." I have a recording of this statement, from July 7, 1994, at Bar Ilan University.



Now, the great open secret not to be spoken aloud on the radio is the absolute failure of the Bush/Sharon Road Map and the de facto border for another Arab Muslim Palestinian State that some call the "Great Wall of Israel". Lots to hide. But these secrets are spoken about on Arutz Sheva ? which is healthy for all good and honest democracies.



As a further proof of the dangers to which current policy has exposed Israel, it was reported by the Government Press Office that the IDF is considering moving their Brigade HQ from Samaria to inside the Green Line. First, it was the Left under Rabin-Peres raiding Arutz Sheva to shut it down and close its true voice. Then came Arik Sharon, who really didn?t want a public radio station not under his government control speaking about plans to evacuate Yesha (Judea, Samaria and Gaza) and protesting Sharon?s acceptance of the Bush Road Map and the new security fence/border.



This means you can also look for the fingerprints of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and the Arabist State Department in this ugly suppression of democracy and freedom of speech and press. The Americans have apparently decided that all voices protesting the Road Map, which would seriously weaken the Jewish State of Israel, must be silenced.



This is an ugly affair and a vile display of arrogance that one easily finds wherever thuggish dictators rule their courts. Israel seems determined to prove that it is a Third World Banana Republic. Not too long ago, a prominent and respected Judge Bork was interviewed on CSPAN TV, where he responded to a question about Israel?s Supreme Court and, with humor, identified it as ?a politically activist court that appointed itself Israel?s law-maker instead of merely judging the facts of certain politically-charged cases.? I suppose the entire Knesset can now retire, leaving the job of formulating law to Chief Justice Aharon Barak.



In Summary



Succeeding governments refused to give Arutz Sheva a broadcasting license, even after the Knesset passed a law authorizing it, by a 40-30 margin, in February 1999. The courts overruled the Knesset ? for the first and only time ? on this law. The courts falsely proclaimed that Arutz Sheva interfered with aviation communication, this while more than more than 100 Arab and Palestinian pirate stations operated without so much as a mention, fine and certainly no punitive raids.



If I were you, dear reader, I would vent my fury on Sharon, Limor Livnat, Tommy Lapid, Ehud Olmert and the High Court ? who are the controlling influences in this nasty affair. I would ask your local media why, despite their liberal outlook, they have not protested this attack against Freedom of Speech in Israel.