On November 20, a senior manager in the Public Works Department (PWD), Yitzhak Hershkowitz, committed suicide, following a report on Israel’s Channel 2 television. The report, aired the previous evening, blamed Hershkowitz for negligence which resulted in a road accident in 1999, claiming the lives of 19 people. Since then, a trial has been held against the PWD engineer, but no verdict has yet been announced.
Hershkowitz left a suicide note. In it he wrote: “This ordered and tendentious report, aired in front of all the people of Israel, has determined my destiny in the trial which is now being held against me… This report caused me and my family irreversible damage, with which I cannot live.”
The engineer’s death has triggered heated debates in Israel, in the political, social, and media arenas. “I am shocked and astonished by the act of suicide committed by Hershkowitz… I am sorry to say that Channel 2 is the cause behind his death,” said Minister of Transportation Meir Sheetrit. Member of Knesset (parliament) Ehud Yatom also attacked the media, saying that, “despite the important role of the media in democracy, it must not put itself instead of the court system.” On the other hand, MK Ran Cohen called for an urgent parliamentary meeting. “Hershkowitz’s suicide is horrendous, but the report’s findings necessitate a full investigation into misconduct which causes deaths.”
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Those remarks show the ambivalent message conveyed by politicians to the media. Act as democracy’s watchdog, they say, but be willing to pay the price. But should the media pay the price for doing its job? In an interview with the Israeli news portal Ynet, Professor Dan Kaspi of the Ben-Gurion University said, “Responsibility in cases like this should be divided between the media and those who hold positions.” Kaspi, an expert on mass media, added, “I am afraid that following this case media outlets and journalists will refrain from conducting such research. They should be careful, but not refrain from fulfilling their duty. This is one of the media’s most important roles – to safeguard norms in society, and warn against dangers.”
Twenty years ago, another case caused much controversy in Israel. Four terrorists hijacked a bus in Israel, and were later caught by security forces. During the operation two of the terrorists died, and the other two were captured alive. Those two were killed by the Shin Bet (Israeli equivalent of the FBI) and army officers, despite the fact that they were already handcuffed and did not pose any danger.
A newspaper photographer managed to take a picture of one of those terrorists, while he was still alive. The rules of military censorship did not allow the paper to publish the photo, nor any report dealing with the case. The paper decided to publish the photo and the report anyway.
Following the report an investigation was launched and the details of this ordeal were discovered. It became known that Ehud Yatom, then a senior officer in the Shin Bet, was involved in the killing of the two terrorists, after receiving a direct order from the head of the Shin Bet. Yatom and the rest of the Shin Bet men who were involved were pardoned by the president before any legal proceedings even began. However, when Yatom later tried to apply for political positions, the affair kept overshadowing his career. This was the same Ehud Yatom who now blames the media for acting as a prosecutor in court.
Following Hershkowitz’s suicide, journalists in Israel will have to face a difficult reality. One journalist, writing in an online blog, described this reality as follows: “The tragic death of Hershkowitz scares journalists. No one among us wants to go to sleep with the feeling that he killed a person. We are all motivated by interests. There are those who want to expose misconduct, there are those who want to expose political struggles. But no journalist, I believe, wants to see the subjects of his story commit suicide.”