''Kol HaAm'' () was a Hebrew-language newspaper in

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and

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. It was initially published by the

Palestine Communist Party The Palestine Communist Party (, ''Palestinische Komunistische Partei'', abbreviated PKP; ) was a political party in the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate of Palestine formed in 1923 through the merger of the Palestinian Communist Party (192 ...

and later by its successor, the Israeli Communist Party.

History

Established in 1937, the paper appointed Communist Party member

Esther Vilenska Esther Vilenska (;‎ 8 June 1918 – 8 November 1975) was an Israeli Communism, communist politician, journalist and author who served as a member of the Knesset for Maki (historical political party), Maki between 1951 and 1959, and then ag ...

editor in 1943, and chief editor in 1947. Vilenska's second husband, Zvi Breidstein, was also an editor of the paper. In 1953 ''Kol HaAm'' and its Arabic-language sister newspaper

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published a controversial article on the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

, which resulted in the

Minister of Internal Affairs An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

Israel Rokach Israel Rokach, Order of the British Empire, Honorary CBE (; December 31, 1896 – September 13, 1959) was an Israeli politician, Knesset member, and the fourth Mayor of Tel Aviv from 1936 to 1953. Biography Israel Rokach was born in 1896 in Neve ...

, ordering the paper to close for 15 days. The papers filed a petition to the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

, which ruled that the suspension had been wrongly issued and should be set aside.Schmidt, Y (2008
''Foundations of Civil and Political Rights in Israel and the Occupied Territories''
GRIN Verlag, p126 The ruling utilised the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another state or failed state, or are breaka ...

in making its judgement on the issue of free speech, the first time the declaration was used as an instrument for interpretation. In doing so, the court reversed the holding in High Court Judgement 10/48 ''Zeev v. Gubernik'' that the objective of the Declaration of Independence was solely to declare the establishment of the state of Israel. In 1992, the principles of the Declaration of Independence were formally incorporated into Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, granting the declaration formal constitutional status. What became known as the "Kol HaAm Decision" also set the precedent that newspapers could only be shut down if there was a "almost certain" danger to national security."Government orders closure of Arab weekly"
, Reporters Without Borders, 24 December 2002. The newspaper ceased publication in 1975.

Writers

Writers for the paper included: * Israel Panner

References

External links

Online, searchable ''Kol HaAm'' editions
from the

Historical Jewish Press Historical Jewish Press is an online archive of historical newspapers written and published by Jews. The database enables, through digitization, virtual access to the Hebrew press in most of its years of existence, starting from the late 18th Cent ...

1937 establishments in Mandatory Palestine 1975 disestablishments in Israel Newspapers established in 1937 Publications disestablished in 1975 Defunct Hebrew-language newspapers Communist newspapers published in Israel Defunct newspapers published in Israel Newspapers disestablished in the 1970s Words and phrases in Modern Hebrew {{israel-newspaper-stub