State Archive Error Shows Israeli Censorship Guided by Concerns Over National Image by Ofer Aderet

It turns out that Israel’s first agriculture minister, Aharon Zisling, who was a signatory to the Declaration of Independence, said in 1948… “Let us say that instances of rape occurred in Ramle. I can forgive instances of rape, but I will not forgive other acts.” The next statement, which was not blacked out, now gains additional significance, and explains what the minister considered an act more serious than rape: “When they enter a city and forcibly remove jewelry from women and from their necks – that is a very serious matter.”

…Twenty pages later, in the same discussion… Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion who was speaking. In the censored version he said: “I am against the wholesale demolition of villages.” Now, the full statement is revealed. It turns out that he then added: “But there are places that constituted a great danger and constitute a great danger, and we must wipe them out. But this must be done responsibly, with consideration before the act.”