The Anat Kam affair

RELEASE ANAT KAM NOW!

On December 4, 2008 Haaretz journalist Uri Blau published a story called called "Targeted Assassinations – a License to kill", in which he revealed operational discussions in which the fate of wanted men and innocent people was decided, in apparent disregard of the High Court of Justice decision, which set strict criteria regarding the policy of assassinations in the West Bank. Two Jihad militants were assissinated by the IDF, under responsibility of then Head of Central Command, Maj. Gen. Yair Naveh.

Uri Blau received the information from journalist Anat Kam, who was at the time completing her mandatory military service as a clerk in Naveh's office. Blau's article was screened by the Israeli security services and he got permission to publish it.
In December 2009, Anat Kam was accused of treason and placed under house arrest. At the same time Uri Blau was transferred to Asia, and in April 2010 Haaretz moved him to London. Anat Kam was still under house arrest in Israel. Haaretz's editor in chief, Dov Alfon, said Uri Blau would stay in London "as long as necessary".

A court-imposed gag order prohibited officials in Israel or Israeli media from releasing details of the affair. The attempt by Israel to suppress the story was first resisted by the British newspaper Independent, as well as Associated Press (AP), soon to followed by the rest of the free world, including blogs, newspapers and TV stations. However, no Israeli newspaper, or Israel-based foreign journalist, was allowed to even mention the affair. In the blogosphere Richard Silverstein's Tikun Olam, among others, played (and still plays) an important role in publishing the facts and the background of the Anat Kam affair.

Anat Kam is not allowed to reveil any details. Uri Blau fled to London because he feared that he might face charges in Israel in connection with his 2008 investigation. The gag order was finally lifted under pressure of many publications (blogs and newspapers alike), on April 8, 2010.

"I do not believe that a citizen can be arrested and tried for suspected security offences right under our noses without anyone knowing anything about it," wrote former Haaretz editor Hanoch Marmari.
"Trials do not take place here in darkened dungeons, nor do we have show trials behind glass or chicken wire. I have no doubt that such a strange, terrible and baseless scenario cannot take place in such a sophisticated democracy as our own."

Anat Kam is not allowed to speak about the affair, but on April 9, 2010, Uri Blau, still hiding in London, was able to publish his story in Haaretz. The same day Haaretz published the article "Harrass the IDF, not alleged whistleblower Anat Kam".

There is something very dodgy about this affair. First of all, Anat Kam is accused of espionage, and she is under house arrest. Never before in the history of Israel a spy suspect was put under house arrest -- they all were jailed. Second, the copied documents were not used to spy. They were used to write an article, and the article was published after the content was screened by the military censor. Never has the safety of the State of Israel been in danger because of this affair, and if it was, the military censor is to blame and not Anat Kam or Uri Blau.

Anat Kam blew the whistle, that's all she did, and now she has to pay for it, while the military commanders who ordered the assassinations, against the order of the High Court, are still walking free.

There's only one thing the Israeli government can do: immediately drop the charges against Anat Kam and Uri Blau, and start a serious investigation into the decisions of the military leadership throughout this affair, as well into the decisions that motivated Anat Kam to take action and hand the proof of the military crimes to Uri Blau.