The Anat Kam Case Comes Out of the Closet: With a Flood of Detail

Now, this is Israeli democratic values at work, as the press finally breaks the lock of the government censors.

As expected, Israel has wisely lifted the gag order on the case of arrested IDF whistleblower Anat Kam. Accordingly, Ha'aretz, which is itself in the middle of this case but was previously barred from publishing details, is starting to gush with detail: Uri Blau, the Ha'aretz correspondent who published the leaked material and is now sitting in London for fear of prosecution if he he goes home, offers his own story; a Ha'aretz editorial says the Shin Bet broke its word to Ha'aretz and the IDF violated a High Court order; and some of Ha'aretz' star commentators come out swinging and take no prisoners: Akiva Eldar on the cult of secrecy; and Gideon Levy plows into the IDF and Shin Bet.

On the other hand, the Jerusalem Post emphasizes Shin Bet's claims that the leaked material clearly jeopardized Israeli security.

And meanwhile, Netanyahu has decided not to attend the nuclear security summit in Washington, apparently because Egypt and Turkey — both of which have diplomatic relations with Israel, of course — planned to mention the fact that one Middle Eastern country acquired nuclear weapons before anyone else did. (Ahem: Clears throat.)