תגית: חופש אקדמי

Shai Tubali is a some-what familiar name in the media, because unlike other nutty cult leaders, he published a successful book, and his name is also known from the time he served in Galey Tzahal almost two decades ago. His cult is quite small, reported to be under 30 followers these days, but several news sources (Yediot, Channel 2) have published worrying stories about the way he abuses his flock. One of the people who also wrote about him several times is reporter, blogger and newage academic Tomer Persico. Of all the publications, Tubali decided to skip the national media and pick on Persico and hit him with a 220K NIS libel suit. More Info (also in Hebrew) in NRG.

I myself have been threatened to be sued three different times after posts in this blog, and by lawyers, no less. All for legitimate criticism, and in all three cases I managed to shut them up with an email or two. Two other friends of mine (Guy and Hetz) are awaiting trials and have spent thousands of Shekels on attorneys. This is becoming a serious threat to freedom of speech in Israel, and specifically for bloggers. I find this very worrying.

I would appreciate your thoughts on the matter, and if you're finding this latest story important enough to support, please hit the link to read further, and maybe pledge a few NIS for Persico's defense

(No, I don't know him personally, I don't even read his blog regularly, and this post is unsolicited)