Israel Expelled by International Journalists Union

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) have removed the (read expelled) the Israeli branch of the organization. The IFJ say it is because Israel refused to pay the dues it owed. Israel had been withholding payments asking that it be charged the same rate as neighboring country Jordan, not the higher rate the IFJ was demanding. Many believe it has more to do with an anti-Israel bias then the dues, the pattern of which is evident.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/132316

"The International Federation of Journalists has expelled the Israeli branch after refusing to allow it to pay the same reduced amount of dues levied on neighboring countries, such as Jordan. Chaim Shibi, an Israeli branch official and veteran Israeli journalist, charged that the action by the international body is the culmination of a long-standing anti-Israeli bias.
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The Federation claims the expulsion is based on Israel’s failure to pay its dues. It argues that its decision has nothing to do with politics or previous Federation charges that Israeli media sacrifices its independence by toeing the line regarding government policies.

“We write against the Prime Minister,” unlike in most Arab countries, Shibi told Israel National News. “We are proud of our journalism in Israel and are not dependent on the government. We are the freest of all the media and we are the ones that the Federation selects to expel?"

The government of Israel was publicly blamed for being too free in allowing liberal media coverage of the Second Lebanon War, Shibi added. “Now they [the Federation] are telling us what is ‘free.’”

The Federation has had an anti-Israeli bias in the Middle East for some time ...

He explained that the Federation’s anti-Israeli bias also was clear when it sent Arab journalists to investigate the accidental killing of a Gaza-based photographer for Reuters during counterterrorist operations in Gaza. “No one talked with any Israeli journalists,” Shibi pointed out. The Federation told the Israeli branch that its journalists were "irrelevant” because it was able to depend on its Arab members journalists based in Judea, Samaria and Gaza."

More thoughts at http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/archives/11932-Israels-Journalists-Ousted-For-Israel-Surviving.html.