December 4: Whistleblower or Spy?

Haaretz reporter Uri Blau published a report on this date in 2008 about Israeli assassinations of West Bank militants, based on a leak of some two thousand classified documents by Anat Kamm, a former Israeli soldier. In 2006, the Israeli Supreme Court had restricted the use of military assassinations, forbidding them in cases in which suspects could be apprehended. Kamm’s espionage revealed that the ruling was likely being violated. “There were some aspects of the IDF’s operations procedures in the West Bank,” she said, “that I felt should be public knowledge. . . . I kept thinking that history tends to forgive people who expose war crimes.” On October 30 of this year, Kamm was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison and 18 months probation; the two years she had spent under house arrest were not deducted from her sentence. “Israelis, who otherwise would respect their nation and its institutions, are increasingly defying the defense authorities’ wishes. Obeying the calls of their consciences, they are publishing what they believe should be published by sending details into cyberspace and thus around the globe.” —Yossi Melman, Tablet