Summary
Head of the DSDE in 2002, when its archive operations began, who told Haaretz he started them and that concealing 1948 records weakens research and fact-based public debate (Silencing: DSDE’s Concealment of Documents in Archives, PDF p.8-9).
Details
- The report’s epigraph is his: “Even if somebody writes the horse is black, if the horse is not outside the stable, it cannot be proven it is actually black”, from an interview to Hagar Shezaf, “Security Establishment conceals Nakba documents in vaults”, Haaretz, 5 July 2019 (PDF p.1).
- On the start of the operations: “I do not remember when it started,” he said to Shezaf, “but I know I started it. If I am not mistaking, it started when they wanted to publish archival documents” (PDF p.8).
- The report presents him as confirming that concealing records on 1948 events was intended to harm public debate and academic research: if the original documentation is hidden, research findings are weakened and the potential harm of a fact-based public debate is reduced (PDF p.9).
- On the refugee narratives: “Some say there was no flight, that there was only expulsion; others say there was a flight” (PDF p.9, as quoted in the report).
- On concealing documents already quoted in academic literature: “when the state conceals [archival records] publication becomes weaker, as the [the researcher] does not hold the document” (PDF p.9, as quoted; doubled “the” as printed).
Related pages
Silencing: DSDE’s Concealment of Documents in Archives, Director of Security of the Defense Establishment, Benny Morris