Where is the fair-minded Left?

I often find myself agreeing with leftist officials when they reject rightist claims that the media publishes unfair reports meant to undermine the governing authorities.

Last week, however, the tables were turned when Channel 2's "Uvda" program, hosted by Dr. Ilana Dayan, aired Omri Assenheim's investigative report revealing that radical leftist activist Ezra Nawi turns in Palestinian land brokers to Palestinian Authority security forces for doing deals with Israelis. Right-wing activists infiltrated Nawi's group and recorded him bragging about turning in these land brokers, who were later tortured and executed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas' henchmen.

Left-wing MKs were shocked by the report. Some expressed concern that "Uvda" had joined the campaign against leftist human rights groups. Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy bounced from television studio to television studio, denouncing the airing of the report. Other journalists joined in the criticism, as if the airing of the report had not been proper.

Worst of all was the response of Amira Hass, Haaretz's high priestess of everything Palestinian. Realizing that Nawi had become a burden, Hass threw him to the wolves, calling him an "aging Mizrahi homosexual." In the eyes of Haaretz, the bastion of "thinking people," which is Nawi's worst crime: getting older, being Mizrahi, or being homosexual-

Hass got off the hook for saying this. But what would have happened if Ariel Zilber, known for his staunch rightist views, had said something similar about Nawi? He would have been verbally scalped in the town square.

Meretz leader Zehava Galon complained that the "Uvda" report did not include the fact that the Palestinian Authority has not executed anyone in years. This was evasion on her part. The problem is not what the Palestinian Authority did or did not do. The problem is the fact that a Jew turned in Palestinians for wanting to do business with Jews. Yet the Left says Dayan is to blame? There are many fair-minded Zionists in Meretz and I expect them -- as well as leftists in the Zionist Union -- to take a clear stance both against Nawi and the pitiful response of leftist leaders to the "Uvda" report. "Let there be no hope for informers," the Amidah prayer says.

טעינו? נתקן! אם מצאתם טעות בכתבה, נשמח שתשתפו אותנו