Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid had harsh words to say against the left-wing newspaper Haaretz on Thursday over the paper's criticism of IDF soldiers. "Haaretz accused IDF soldiers of intentionally and indiscriminately killing Arab children," Lapid wrote in post on his Facebook page. "They wrote, 'IDF soldiers are called on to kill Palestinian children. Kill, soldiers, kill. Nothing bad will happen to you if you tear the body of a fleeing Palestinian teenager to shreds.' This is a monstrous text by a newspaper that has long since gone insane," Lapid wrote. According to the Yesh Atid chairman, the paper went on "to accuse me, too, of the same killing, but I forgive them for smearing my honor. I absolutely don't [forgive them] for smearing IDF soldiers. Anyone who portrays our soldiers as indiscriminate murderers is consciously lying, and making it acceptable to spill [soldiers'] blood." "In the history of war, there has never been an army that has done more to uphold the ethics of warfare and purity of arms, but that's of no interest to Haaretz. It's a newspaper full of the extremist Left's self-hatred, and this piece -- like many others -- legitimizes terrorism." "According to that logic, if it presents IDF soldiers as murderers, it can argue that Hamas and the Islamic Jihad and the stabbers and the suicide bombers are actually acting in self-defense," Lapid continued. Lapid noted that "If these articles were published in Israel only, and only in Hebrew, it might be possible to shrug them off as the words of a marginal minority of extremist left-wingers. The problem is that Haaretz is translated into English, and these texts are disseminated throughout the world and cause terrible damage to Israel." According to Lapid, when anyone attacked Haaretz, "they are quick to yell, 'Freedom of expression!' Great, but freedom of expression belongs to everyone, and if they are allowed to lie in its name, then I certainly can tell the truth: Haaretz is anti-Zionist, anti-Israeli, and not really a newspaper anymore."
