An Israeli court sentenced ten innocent people for a crime that they committed. Or was it really a crime? And as much as I try to think the thing through, I cannot tell the difference between what the Israeli court is doing to the ?Arutz Sheva Ten? and what the US government did to Jonathan Pollard nearly 20 years ago.
Background on Arutz Sheva
For the benefit of our readers who are unfamiliar with Israel National News, let us just say that Arutz Sheva (which in the Hebrew language means "Channel 7") used to operate several initially non-commercial public broadcasting stations. If you think that Arutz Sheva did for the Israeli people what National Public Radio (NPR) does here in the United States of America, you won't be far off the mark, except of course that Arutz Sheva operated independently and with a conservative editorial viewpoint, not with the left-wing bias that characterizes NPR.
Arutz Sheva broadcast in the AM and FM radio bands from transmitters placed on board a ship anchored in international waters off the coast of Israel. Hebrew language broadcasts were transmitted at 105.2 FM and 1143 AM. English, French, and Russian language broadcasts were transmitted at 98.7 FM and 1539 AM. From time to time, the Israeli government would raid the broadcast facilities of Arutz Sheva, even though it was broadcasting from international waters outside of the communications jurisdiction of Israel. I have been informed that certain engineers at Arutz Shev would use the raiding events as an opportunity for them to upgrade their transmitters with the latest and greatest equipment, since Arutz Sheva personnel would be sure that only the oldest and most outdated equipment got confiscated.
Today, Israel National News broadcasts only on the Internet, but does manage to operate an Internet-based English-language television news feed.
Who are the Arutz Sheva Ten?
Not too long ago certain left-wing fools within the Israeli government indicted and swiftly convicted ten members of the Arutz Sheva staff. Here's a list of the personnel who were sentenced following their conviction in late 2003 for operating a "pirate" radio station:
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed, Rabbi of Beit El since its inception in 1977 and Dean of Beit El Yeshiva Center Institutions, a leading member of the Yesha Council of Rabbis. He is a co-founder of Arutz-7; Shulamit Melamed, wife of Rabbi Melamed and long-time educational counselor at Tzviya Girls High School, she is a co-founder of Arutz-7 and served as programming director and station manager; Yaakov Katz, known as "Ketzaleh", ("The Little Cat"), indefatigable Executive-Director of Arutz-7 and Beit El Yeshiva Center Institutions, and a founding member of the community of Beit El; Yoel Tzur, Director of Arutz-7, IDF battalion commander in reserves, and a founding member of the community of Beit El. He lost his wife and son in a Muslim-based terrorist attack in 1996; Haggai Segal, Arutz-7 News Director, author of several books on the history of modern settlement in Judea, Samaria and Gaza; Adir Zik, veteran fiery nationalist broadcaster; Gidi Sharon, veteran music broadcaster, considered one of those responsible for the revival of Sephardic (Jewish-Middle Eastern) music in Israel; David Shapira, broadcaster and director of Arutz-7's French department; Ya'ir Meir, engineer; and Sha'ul Avni, captain of Arutz-7's ship, the Eretz HaTzvi.
My Own Communications Background
Don't bother to write me and tell me that I don't know what I'm talking about here. I do know what I'm talking about. I have a background in telecommunications on an executive level. I obtained a permit from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1985 to operate the commercial television facilities of KHOF Channel 30 assigned to San Bernardino, California; In 1987, I opened the final round of Direct Broadcast Service applications before the FCC and obtained one of the last DBS construction permits issued; I served as a consultant to MCI Communications as they contemplated entering the DBS industry. (They didn't listen to my counsel and then they lost more than USD$700 million by getting involved in an auction of DBS spectrum assignments); In 2001, I wrote the first set of communications guidelines for regulating applications to operate telecommunications space stations in the W-band from geosynchronous orbit. These rules have been adopted for use by the host countries of the SWANsat system; In 2003, I obtained the first-ever issued authorization to conduct satellite telecommunications operations on an international scale in the W-band.
In short, I am very familiar with broadcast regulations and broadcast piracy issues, including ITU (that's the International Telecommunications Union) regulations concerning radio, television, and satellite broadcasts. I am familiar with piracy issues and broadcast "landing rights" issues, as well. I know broadcast issues.
And I say the Israeli government is out to lunch on their conduct toward the Arutz Sheva Ten and their treatment of the Arutz Sheva broadcast properties.
And I say with firm conviction that what the Israeli court has done needs to be overturned. Now.
The Jonathan Pollard Connection
From time to time, I've written about Jonathan Pollard in my website?s ?Islam Commentaries?. We first heard about him when we began looking into threats faced by the United States and the West from conservative Islam. His name surfaced in stories about espionage against the United States allegedly undertaken by Israel.
What intrigued me about the case is that it became quickly evident that Mr. Pollard had learned about nuclear, chemical and biological weapons capabilities of Iraq and other Arab states that were about to come online. The United States intended to keep quiet about these vital pieces of information. America wanted it kept away from the eyes and minds of the world. But Pollard passed the warning to Israel. Mr. Pollard was rewarded for helping the world avert disaster by being given a life sentence in a U.S. federal prison.
Why am I comparing what happened to Mr. Pollard to what happened to the Arutz Sheva Ten Monday afternoon at 1:30pm Jerusalem time? Well, let me count the ways. Here are just four of them:
Mr. Pollard -
* Convicted after a show trial, in which a government that claimed to be looking out for the interests of the Israeli people disregarded the best interests of those people in favor of its own agenda.
* Disseminated information that the government didn't want disseminated.
* Motivation was to equip the Israeli people with strategic information with which to defend themselves against Muslim aggression in the Middle East.
* Government prosecutors called for the strictest penalties possible against Mr. Pollard ? and then enforced them.
The Arutz Sheva Ten -
* Convicted after a show trial, in which a government that claimed to be looking out for the interests of the Israeli people disregarded the best interests of those people in favor of its own agenda.
* Are disseminating information that the government doesn't want disseminated ? i.e., a conservative world view of Middle Eastern events.
* Motivation is to equip the Israeli people with strategic information with which to defend themselves against Muslim aggression in the Middle East.
* Government prosecutors called for the strictest penalties possible against the Arutz Sheva Ten ? and have stated publicly that they intend to enforce them.
I'll bet you a dollar that if you think about it, you can come up with a few more similarities on your own. So that's why I say that I cannot tell the difference between Mr. Pollard's plight and what's happening to ten nice folk who'd like to see nothing better than peace with honor in Israel.
Epilogue
I read the Arutz Sheva report on the sentencing verdicts moments after it was posted. And I thought to myself, "Maybe the public service they'll be required to do will consist of running a public news organization on the internet."
So this morning I'm praising God for Jewish ingenuity.
But I'm still thinking about Jonathan Pollard. When compared to what happened to Mr. Pollard, the Arutz-7 Ten got off easy. (Not that NIS30,000 fines are all that small, mind you.)
I wonder what Israel's courts would have done if the Arutz-7 Ten had been foreign citizens?
Background on Arutz Sheva
For the benefit of our readers who are unfamiliar with Israel National News, let us just say that Arutz Sheva (which in the Hebrew language means "Channel 7") used to operate several initially non-commercial public broadcasting stations. If you think that Arutz Sheva did for the Israeli people what National Public Radio (NPR) does here in the United States of America, you won't be far off the mark, except of course that Arutz Sheva operated independently and with a conservative editorial viewpoint, not with the left-wing bias that characterizes NPR.
Arutz Sheva broadcast in the AM and FM radio bands from transmitters placed on board a ship anchored in international waters off the coast of Israel. Hebrew language broadcasts were transmitted at 105.2 FM and 1143 AM. English, French, and Russian language broadcasts were transmitted at 98.7 FM and 1539 AM. From time to time, the Israeli government would raid the broadcast facilities of Arutz Sheva, even though it was broadcasting from international waters outside of the communications jurisdiction of Israel. I have been informed that certain engineers at Arutz Shev would use the raiding events as an opportunity for them to upgrade their transmitters with the latest and greatest equipment, since Arutz Sheva personnel would be sure that only the oldest and most outdated equipment got confiscated.
Today, Israel National News broadcasts only on the Internet, but does manage to operate an Internet-based English-language television news feed.
Who are the Arutz Sheva Ten?
Not too long ago certain left-wing fools within the Israeli government indicted and swiftly convicted ten members of the Arutz Sheva staff. Here's a list of the personnel who were sentenced following their conviction in late 2003 for operating a "pirate" radio station:
Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed, Rabbi of Beit El since its inception in 1977 and Dean of Beit El Yeshiva Center Institutions, a leading member of the Yesha Council of Rabbis. He is a co-founder of Arutz-7; Shulamit Melamed, wife of Rabbi Melamed and long-time educational counselor at Tzviya Girls High School, she is a co-founder of Arutz-7 and served as programming director and station manager; Yaakov Katz, known as "Ketzaleh", ("The Little Cat"), indefatigable Executive-Director of Arutz-7 and Beit El Yeshiva Center Institutions, and a founding member of the community of Beit El; Yoel Tzur, Director of Arutz-7, IDF battalion commander in reserves, and a founding member of the community of Beit El. He lost his wife and son in a Muslim-based terrorist attack in 1996; Haggai Segal, Arutz-7 News Director, author of several books on the history of modern settlement in Judea, Samaria and Gaza; Adir Zik, veteran fiery nationalist broadcaster; Gidi Sharon, veteran music broadcaster, considered one of those responsible for the revival of Sephardic (Jewish-Middle Eastern) music in Israel; David Shapira, broadcaster and director of Arutz-7's French department; Ya'ir Meir, engineer; and Sha'ul Avni, captain of Arutz-7's ship, the Eretz HaTzvi.
My Own Communications Background
Don't bother to write me and tell me that I don't know what I'm talking about here. I do know what I'm talking about. I have a background in telecommunications on an executive level. I obtained a permit from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1985 to operate the commercial television facilities of KHOF Channel 30 assigned to San Bernardino, California; In 1987, I opened the final round of Direct Broadcast Service applications before the FCC and obtained one of the last DBS construction permits issued; I served as a consultant to MCI Communications as they contemplated entering the DBS industry. (They didn't listen to my counsel and then they lost more than USD$700 million by getting involved in an auction of DBS spectrum assignments); In 2001, I wrote the first set of communications guidelines for regulating applications to operate telecommunications space stations in the W-band from geosynchronous orbit. These rules have been adopted for use by the host countries of the SWANsat system; In 2003, I obtained the first-ever issued authorization to conduct satellite telecommunications operations on an international scale in the W-band.
In short, I am very familiar with broadcast regulations and broadcast piracy issues, including ITU (that's the International Telecommunications Union) regulations concerning radio, television, and satellite broadcasts. I am familiar with piracy issues and broadcast "landing rights" issues, as well. I know broadcast issues.
And I say the Israeli government is out to lunch on their conduct toward the Arutz Sheva Ten and their treatment of the Arutz Sheva broadcast properties.
And I say with firm conviction that what the Israeli court has done needs to be overturned. Now.
The Jonathan Pollard Connection
From time to time, I've written about Jonathan Pollard in my website?s ?Islam Commentaries?. We first heard about him when we began looking into threats faced by the United States and the West from conservative Islam. His name surfaced in stories about espionage against the United States allegedly undertaken by Israel.
What intrigued me about the case is that it became quickly evident that Mr. Pollard had learned about nuclear, chemical and biological weapons capabilities of Iraq and other Arab states that were about to come online. The United States intended to keep quiet about these vital pieces of information. America wanted it kept away from the eyes and minds of the world. But Pollard passed the warning to Israel. Mr. Pollard was rewarded for helping the world avert disaster by being given a life sentence in a U.S. federal prison.
Why am I comparing what happened to Mr. Pollard to what happened to the Arutz Sheva Ten Monday afternoon at 1:30pm Jerusalem time? Well, let me count the ways. Here are just four of them:
Mr. Pollard -
* Convicted after a show trial, in which a government that claimed to be looking out for the interests of the Israeli people disregarded the best interests of those people in favor of its own agenda.
* Disseminated information that the government didn't want disseminated.
* Motivation was to equip the Israeli people with strategic information with which to defend themselves against Muslim aggression in the Middle East.
* Government prosecutors called for the strictest penalties possible against Mr. Pollard ? and then enforced them.
The Arutz Sheva Ten -
* Convicted after a show trial, in which a government that claimed to be looking out for the interests of the Israeli people disregarded the best interests of those people in favor of its own agenda.
* Are disseminating information that the government doesn't want disseminated ? i.e., a conservative world view of Middle Eastern events.
* Motivation is to equip the Israeli people with strategic information with which to defend themselves against Muslim aggression in the Middle East.
* Government prosecutors called for the strictest penalties possible against the Arutz Sheva Ten ? and have stated publicly that they intend to enforce them.
I'll bet you a dollar that if you think about it, you can come up with a few more similarities on your own. So that's why I say that I cannot tell the difference between Mr. Pollard's plight and what's happening to ten nice folk who'd like to see nothing better than peace with honor in Israel.
Epilogue
I read the Arutz Sheva report on the sentencing verdicts moments after it was posted. And I thought to myself, "Maybe the public service they'll be required to do will consist of running a public news organization on the internet."
So this morning I'm praising God for Jewish ingenuity.
But I'm still thinking about Jonathan Pollard. When compared to what happened to Mr. Pollard, the Arutz-7 Ten got off easy. (Not that NIS30,000 fines are all that small, mind you.)
I wonder what Israel's courts would have done if the Arutz-7 Ten had been foreign citizens?