The New York Times · 30 April 1984

CP-1984-044

Israeli Court Backs Closing of Printer

By DAVID K. SHIPLER

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Transcribed from the clipping

JERUSALEM, April 29 — Israel's Supreme Court ruled today that the military censor had the right to close an Israeli newspaper's printing plant for four days after the editors published information without prior submission to censorship.

The case arose amid efforts by the Government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir to suppress news about the unexplained deaths of two of four Arabs who hijacked an Israeli bus with 35 passengers aboard on April 12. The newspaper, Hadashot, published a brief article Friday reporting that a commission of inquiry into the deaths had been established by Defense Minister Moshe Arens.

Mr. Arens acted after evidence, gathered principally by Hadashot, was made public indicating that at least one of the hijackers had been captured alive and killed later after Israeli troops stormed the bus. During the assault, an Israeli woman was killed and seven other passengers were wounded.

Two hijackers were also killed on the spot, but the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the other two are unclear. Publication of Photo Barred The key piece of evidence is a photo taken by a Hadashot photographer of a man being led away by two security agents after the assault.

The censor barred publication of the picture, but one of the newspaper's reporters took it to the Gaza Strip, where relatives and neighbors easily identified the man as Majdi Abu-Jumaa, who had been named by the army as one of the hijackers. His body was seen by his uncle and a neighbor when all four hijackers were buried.

Hadashot is an afternoon tabloid that began publication two months ago and has a circulation of about 50,000. It is owned by the Schocken family, which also owns Haaretz, a lively morning paper that takes a sharply critical line on the Shamir Government. The editors of Hadashot have observed the censor's ban on publishing the photograph.

But because of the paper's aggressiveness in pursuing the story and in sharing its information with foreign news organizations, the impression prevails that the Government is now bent on driving it into oblivion. Yossi Klein, the paper's editor, said he had been told about the establishment of the inquiry commission by Nachman Shai, the spokesman for Defense Minister Arens.

Mr. Shai asked him to delay publication, he said, arguing that the commission's findings would be made public soon. A similar request was made by Mr. Arens of other Israeli editors at a meeting last week. Censor's Jurisdiction Questioned Mr. Klein said he did not feel the item fell under the censor's jurisdiction and he published it without prior submission.

As a result, the same authorities that provided the information then punished the paper for printing it. The censor, an army general, is subordinate to the Defense Minister; after consulting with Mr. Arens the censor ordered the paper's printing plant closed for four days.

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