Racist Double Entendre in Ha'aretz Advertisement by Bryan Atinsky 2:32pm Fri Sep 20 '02 On Sept. 15, 2002, Ha'aretz ran a full page advertisement, three-quarters of the ad taken up by a purposefully ambivalent statement, which means either: "With us, no need for guarantors!" or "At our place, there are no Arabs!" Though Amos Schocken and Ha'aretz may have won an award recently from the University of Missouri "in recognition of its long tradition of fiercely independent and balanced reporting under the most difficult of conditions.", the newspaper has no qualms about accepting advertising money for an obviously racist full page ad. On Sept. 15, 2002, Ha'aretz ran a full page advertisement, three-quarters of the page taken up by a purposefully ambivalent statement, which means either: "At our place, there are no Arabs!" or "With us, no need for guarantors!" This specific style of writing (white letters on black-background) is very common for political posters in Israel. Only the small lettered content at the bottom of the page reveals to the reader the (secondary) mortgage related meaning behind this phrase. I actually took the paper with me and asked several people what it says to them. I wanted to find out what people's first reaction to the ad was. The initial assesment that each of them made was that it was a political statement against arabs. Then I handed the page to them so that they could see that it was a mortgage ad. This advertisement is extremely racist, and Ha'aretz should be highly criticized for lowering, to such an extent, merely for advertising money, its expressed adherence to a level of journalisitic standards. Sadly, however, the fact that this advertisement could be published at all, and especially in Ha'aretz, reflects the extent that the 'Arab transfer' mentality has been normalized into the Israeli psyche. indymedia.org.il add your comments Source file

Correction was made, but stil... by Shabtai 9:32pm Fri Sep 20 '02 print comment The mistake was corrected, and as can now be seen on Haaretz's webiste the same ad exists, however it has "accent symbols" which explain that the true meaning is the non-political one. However, one must wonder, as the writer of the article did: "What the hell was Haaretz thinking?" I myself must say that even with the accent symbols the ad is quite repulsing. I would suggested hiring new copywriters. add your comments

Mistakefully on purpose... by Bryan Atinsky 8:23am Sat Sep 21 '02 bryan@indymedia.org.il print comment Shabtai, you write that "The mistake was corrected." However, I am not so sure that it was a 'mistake' on the part of the advertising agency or the real-estate company that requesitioned the advert. My sense is that the double-meaning was known and meant to catch the eye. It is too obvious to have not been seen. Perhaps...Ha'aretz workers have too little time to be watchful of the adverts they sell space for, and this one slipped by. However, we are talking full page ad here. The only mistake here was in their collective thinking that no one would find this type of commercial use of racialist tendencies to be highly inappropriate. And this fact reveals, as stated in the original article, how the transfer mentality has truely permeated so deeply into the Israeli collective conscience, that an advertisement such as this could be conceptualized, created and implemented without even a second thought about the racial implications of the content. I have seen the 'new improved' version of the advert in the form of a animated gif banner on Ha'aretz's Hebrew site. I still feel, however, that the order of the advertising, first showing the ambivalent statement alone, then moving to the next frame which holds the 'mortgage' meaning, is meant to leave the (not-so) subconcious impression of racial baiting. The new vowels do little to change this. Perhaps, if the advert began with the mortgage sentence, then moved to the ambivalent sentence, they would have an excuse. But the opposite is the case... add your comments

reading it from france by tal 8:13pm Mon Oct 14 '02 address: marseille print comment reading the ad from france from somebody like me not too fluent in hebrew the racist version is the first to come to basic hebrew understanding. deeply shameful; even in "le pen' s kingdom" " (30% extreme right voters) here we don't see such racist writings .don't you have any anti racist law in the " only democratic country " in the middle east? best to all israeli peaceniks miri tal marseille add your comments

anti-racist law? by John Veldhuis 11:31am Tue Oct 15 '02 print comment You must be joking, anti-racist law in a country based on racism... add your comments

country based on racism? by left-out 9:19pm Fri Oct 25 '02 print comment first, the printing of that ad is horrendous and clearly intentional. however, to say that israel is a country based on racism is uh...dumb. know your history before you type something out just because it sounds good to you. israel is doing a lot of things i cannot support, but israel in 1948 was very different than it is today. i could go on and on, but then this would turn into an essay. however, please understand that your assumptions (though maybe not consciously) could be just as rooted in ignorance as that which you claim israel to be rooted in. add your comments

Misunderstood by Yissaskhar 11:53pm Wed Nov 13 '02 print comment The ad could not possibly be interpreted to say "No Arabs", it says "No Guarantors." There is an ambiguity...it could also mean "No Poplars" or "No Evenings". Arabs: ערביים Guarantees: ערבים Whoever wrote this story saying Haaretz was racist (if Haaretz is racist at all, it's racist against JEWS) cannot spell. add your comments

'Arabs' is very commonly spelled with one 'yud' by Bryan Atinsky 11:50pm Fri Nov 15 '02 bryan@indymedia.org.il print comment All one has to do is make a quick look on a site like Y-net to see that 'Arabs' in Hebrew is commonly spelled with one letter 'yud'. (http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/1,7340,L-2239556,00.html)(http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/1,7340,L-2243313,00.html) And from Ma'ariv with same spelling: http://images.maariv.co.il/cache/mador553.html If you are then trying to say that Yideot and Ma'ariv don't know how to spell, go ahead, but my original point still stands...and stands strongly backed by evidence. Why can't you just admit to the obvious? Ideology blinds and stupifies. add your comments

Bryan Atinsky ... what a sellout you are! by yehuda 8:37am Wed Nov 20 '02 print comment Thanks Bryan. Great to my fellow jewish brothers out there perpetuating the myth that Jews in general, such a myself, are bad people! Why don't you go to www.memri.org and check out video footage of what the Friday sermen's from a mosque in Jerusalam have to say ... it's nothing, really. They say things the so-called leftists wouldn't be interested to report about such as "Kill Jews wherever you meet them, in any country" or, one of my personal faves "Any young man should seek matrydom and kill Jews" ... ya, but you wouldn't care about THAT, would you? I guess it just doesn't fit with what that editor wants "Bryan, I need more pictures and stories of Jewish... ehem.. er Israeli brutality against the poor occupied (land won by Israel after it was attacked by other nations surrounding Israel in 1967) Palestinians" ... "Bryan, do you like your job?" Quit acting like you are the 'good guys' and out for 'one's with no voice' your just big mainstream media in disguise... absolutely no different! Yes the Palestinians have an awful desperate existence, but don't think I'd ever fall for your bullshit about it being the Jewish states' fault... blame these so-called "Leaders" (just calling them leaders sounds absurd!) who operate the terror sponsored activities of daily living... THEY ARE THE BASTARDS WHO SHOULD BE SNUFFED OUT AND STOPPED FROM "OCCUPYING LAND". ISRAEL IS JUST PROTECTING ITSELF no different that America, Canada, mexico, or any other country would do! Thanks a lot Bryan A-T-I-N-S-K-Y! I'm not asking for you to side with Jews, but Jesus, do you have to crusify us-including yourself? add your comments

I stand on issues I have the power to change by Bryan Atinsky 1:31pm Wed Nov 20 '02 bryan@indymedia.org.il print comment Dear Yehuda, It is my duty as a moral human-being, as citizen of Israel and as a member of its society, to speak up when I see something, hear something or read something COMING FROM WITHIN MY OWN SOCIETY, which I believe is antithetical to the values which my society propounds to uphold or I believe should be (and need to be) upheld. I did not write the advertising above. Further, I did not publish it in Ha'aretz. I have merely pointed out that it was published, explained the meaning behind its publication, and demanded that it not be published again, and moreover that readers should complain to Ha'aretz about it having ever been published. Furthermore, I do understand that there are individuals and groups within the Palestinian community and within the various Islamic communities around the world who hold ideas and commit deeds, which are antithetical to my understanding of human moral conduct. I also understand this to be true of a multitude of various other individuals and communities from different religious and ethnic backgrounds around the world, including my own. However, that does nothing to justify my own actions or the actions of my own society. I refuse to accept that the questionable actions of other communities or actions done during other periods of history, give any justification for the similar behavior of individuals or groups within my own society. If that is what you are doing or propose to do, then I believe it is you, not me, who is selling out...you are selling out your humanity. Best wishes, Bryan add your comments

Bryan by Yehuda 6:37am Thu Nov 21 '02 print comment Bryan, I feel as though I should apologize for my incoherent ramblings I made during my last visit here. After visiting indymedia.com for the first time, I found myself seething with disgust over how biased this web site seems to be pertaining to Western Asia and Palestinians in particular. In hindsight, I think I was trying to understand why so many journalists here, with Jewish names, could be adding to the fire of hatred towards their own people-especially when one needs to look no further than "civilized" Europe to see the anti-Semitic rhetoric in the French press by so-called politicians such as Don Lepan, for instance. I do understand that modern Jews feel obligated to remove themselves from their "Jewish ness" and live by a more generic "human moral conduct", but I feel it is dead-wrong to provide tainted and slanted information for the massess to support ANY cause. This is supposed to be current events and not biased reporting. Would you dissagree that indymedia.com is in favor of the palestinians and against (forget the word Israel) and anti-Jewish? If the answer is no, then we obviously have NO common ground. It saddens me profoundly that many Jewish people are simply denying everything that has been worked so hard for by our forefathers to create a state that we can call home. Do I agree with everything Israel does with the Palestinians? No I do not. In fact, I myself am quite critical of the Knesset and the some of the inhumane policies inposed upoun the Palestinian people. However, I am outraged to discover a 'news' source such as this, attempting to insult the world and the Israeli people by suggesting that it's acceptable to strap a bomb to one's self and detonate it in a crowd of innocent people who are just shopping, grabbing a bite to eat at the University cafeteria, or just staying home (remember that kibbutz last week where a woman of seven children was ambushed by blood-thirsty thugs with guns?). Please don't dismiss me as a religious nut because I'm not. I'm not even contemplating Judaism here-I could care less about it to be truthful. I'm talking about Jewish people as human beings. Again, I was acting on impulse and my emotions got the best of me in my previous post. I'm not trying to dispute your article about the Ha'aretz... I happen to agree with you. But when push comes to shove I always stand behind my brothers and sisters of Israel and keep in mind a passage from a book I read about David Ben-Gurion: "When Ben-Gurion was expelled from Jerusalem by the Ottoman Empire and found himself in a Turkish prison with a man who happened to be Arab, he had become pals with the man and explained his troubles to his friend. Ben-Gurion's companion replied: 'as your friend, I feel terrible that you have been forced to leave your home land, as an Arab, I am glad'" add your comments

was it inentional by Nadav 1:07am Sun Dec 8 '02 address: Australia print comment I'm with Yehuda on this one. Hebrew is my second language, and my first impressions was that the ad stated 'no Arabs'. However, if there is such contention over the spelling of the two words, can we be sure that the message was intentional? I doubt the company in question could expect to gain from printing a message such as 'no arabs' in one of the highest selling newspapers in the country. My question to Bryan: this is one rare case of possible racism in Israeli media. In the Arab media, there is racism against Jews everyday. If all the self-hating Jews here at indymedia are so intent on finding a peaceful solution the tragic conflict in Israel, why don't they report on the thousands of instances everyday in the Arab media, where muslims are called to exterminate Jews? Why does Bryan not speak out about the Egyptian media, where a series evoking the myth of the 'Elders of Zion' is currently being screened. You are so immersed in your own guilt at being Jewish, that you fail to recognise that Israel is the least-racist nation in the Middle East. Israel is the only country which offers Jews, Christians and Muslims the vote, freedom of speech and the right to live in relative comfort. so what exactly is your problem, Bryan? add your comments

To Nadav on Bryan the self-hating Jew by Bryan Atinsky 10:10am Sun Dec 15 '02 bryan@indymedia.org.il print comment First, why don't you write your e-mail so I can contact you. Second, why don't you write an e-mail to me, so that I don't have to accidently find someone wrote a new comment after a month or so. Nadav says: "However, if there is such contention over the spelling of the two words, can we be sure that the message was intentional? I doubt the company in question could expect to gain from printing a message such as 'no arabs' in one of the highest selling newspapers in the country." First, if you have spent any time in Israel, you would see that the advertisement is based on a typical schematic for a political poster. Second, we can never be 100% sure about the intention of the author. Third, subtlety works to an advantage here...on the one hand, if it were blatent, it would not have been allowed to have been published...on the other hand, the subtle aspect works well on the psyche of a population who is in the midst of a popular discussion of 'transfer' as a legitimate and beneficial solution. You stated: "If all the self-hating Jews here at indymedia are so intent on finding a peaceful solution the tragic conflict in Israel, why don't they report on the thousands of instances everyday in the Arab media, where muslims are called to exterminate Jews?" I already answered the second part of this question above in the comment under the title: "I stand on issues I have the power to change" Read it. Nadav says: "Israel is the only country which offers Jews, Christians and Muslims the vote, freedom of speech and the right to live in relative comfort. so what exactly is your problem, Bryan?" I presume you are talking about in the iddle East. What does it matter, though? This is really bad logic. The human rights abuses and extreme lack of freedoms in neighboring countries in no way justifies human rights abuse and the breaching of civil rights in Israel. I live in Israel, and it is my duty as a citizen to speak out against the abuses which take place in this country. I am not a citizen of Syria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, etc...nor would I want to be. I don't have the power to act against the human-rights and civil-rights abuses there, but I do have the power and the obligation to do it in Israel. As to the Self-hating Jew part...I really have had enough of this silly logic. Why do you silly ignorant fools say that I hate Jews merely because I criticize the policies of my government or the actions by citizens of the country I live in? First, Israel is not the Jewish people. Second, the government of Israel is not the Jewish people. Third, according to your stale-cliche logic: Bryan is a Jew, he cricizes another Jew, criticism = hatred, criticism is pointed at the Jew and not the act of the person commiting the act, Bryan hates Jews because he criticises another Jew = Bryan hates Jews and Bryan is a Jew = Bryan hates himself. Same logic Nadav is a self-hating human: Nadav is a human, Bryan is a human, Nadav criticises Bryan, criticism = hatred, criticism is pointed at the human and not the actions of the human, Nadav hates humans because he criticises another human = Nadav hates humans and Nadav is a human = Nadav hates himself. So so sad, Nadav is a self-hating human. add your comments

with your consent im printing this gem by lal 8:21pm Sun Dec 15 '02 print comment Bryan is a Jew, he cricizes another Jew, criticism = hatred, criticism is pointed at the Jew and not the act of the person commiting the act, Bryan hates Jews because he criticises another Jew = Bryan hates Jews and Bryan is a Jew = Bryan hates himself. Same logic Nadav is a self-hating human: Nadav is a human, Bryan is a human, Nadav criticises Bryan, criticism = hatred, criticism is pointed at the human and not the actions of the human, Nadav hates humans because he criticises another human = Nadav hates humans and Nadav is a human = Nadav hates himself. So so sad, Nadav is a self-hating human. add your comments

stop strain at a gnat and swallow a camel by Mahmoud 12:52am Mon Dec 16 '02 print comment Yehuda wrote: """many journalists here, with Jewish names, could be adding to the fire of hatred towards their own people-"""" - how you can be sure that all thise people with the "jewish names" are not fake"jews" with the fake names. Don't forget, this is un-official web, without any control. Some people call this we as "protocols of the elders of Indymedia" and this is true. Here everyone can post whatever she want signed with a "real jewish name". This side has been flooded by the fake jews, fake quotes and forged "news". Answer me, if it should be so many anti-jewish jews as this site pretend - HOW the Israel still exist ?? I don't believe any words written on Indy. What about "racist comment" in Haaretz - In my country - Holland, I have seen much worse racist add but nobody screaming to the all world "all dutch media are racist !". I don't surprise when other people used a much higher moral standard to the jews than to anybody else (as they used to do that during the last 2000 years), but I do surprise when themself didn't see that. Stop strain at a gnat and swallow a camel ! add your comments