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13 J. Pub. L. 3 (1964)
Defamation Control vs. Press Freedom: A Current Chapter in Israel

handle is hein.journals/emlj13 and id is 7 raw text is: DEFAMATION CONTROL vs. PRESS FREEDOM: A CURRENT CHAPTER IN ISRAEL Edmond Cahn* THE FOLLOWING LETTERS are published with the permission of Mr. David Ben-Gurion, former Prime Minister of the State of Israel. Together they constitute a candid debate on one of the perennial issues of political democracy, i.e., whether the aim to prevent defamation justifies a govern- ment in restricting the freedom of the press. Although the immediate issues covered by these letters arose in the State of Israel, recent libel verdicts in English and American courts prove that the problem is not local but may emerge in any free nation. Those who view it in one perspective or another are likely to differ widely. For example, the reader will notice that at the end of our exchanges neither Mr. Ben-Gurion nor I had budged an inch. In point of fact, Mr. Ben- Gurion reiterated his original position in the very letter that graciously gave leave to publish. BACKGROUND OF THE CORRESPONDENCE In March 1962, the New York Times reported that the Government of Israel had offered a defamation bill in the Knesset (Parliament) which would sharply abridge the freedom of the Israeli press.1 Disturbed by this dispatch, which was to prove entirely accurate, I wrote a letter of protest to Mr. Ben-Gurion. On March 19, 1962, The Times of London assailed the bill in an edi- torial which summarized its most objectionable features: A Shocking Law The Government of Israel proposes to alter the law of libel and slander in a way which must shock all those who care for freedom of speech and who have until now liked to think that the rulers of Israel were among their numbers. Most of the draft Bill, which has already received its first reading in the Knesset, concerns the press, and if it became law Israel would join the ranks of countries where the press operates in a twilight of open and concealed censorship. This is especially shameful because most of Israel's press is lively and responsible. Perhaps the worst of many bad clauses is that which makes it possible for a news- paper to be closed down for any period if two convictions for libel are made against the newspaper or any member of its staff within a period of two years. As the definitions of libel and slander are drawn as widely as possible the door could thus be opened for a Government to silence for ever an irksome critic. * Professor of Law, New York University School of Law. 1 Fellows, Wider Press Curb Planned in Israel, N.Y. Times, March 11, 1962, 1 1 (News), p. 14, col. 1.

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