''Kol HaAm'' ( he, קול העם, lit. "Voice of the People") was a Hebrew-language newspaper in

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...

and

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. It was initially published by the

Palestine Communist Party The Palestine Communist Party ( yi, פאלעסטינישע קומוניסטישע פארטיי, ''Palestinische Komunistische Partei'', abbreviated PKP; ar, الحزب الشيوعي الفلسطيني) was a political party in British Mandate ...

and later by its successor, the

Israeli Communist Party The Israeli Communist Party, commonly known by its Hebrew acronym Maki (), is a communist political party in Israel and forms part of the political alliance known as Hadash. It was originally known as Rakah, an acronym for ''Reshima Komunistit H ...

History

Established in 1937, the paper appointed Communist Party member

Esther Vilenska Esther Vilenska ( he, אסתר וילנסקה‎ 8 June 1918 – 8 November 1975) was a Lithuanian Jewish Israeli communist politician, journalist and author who served as a member of the Knesset for Maki between 1951 and 1959 and then aga ...

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

Al-Ittihad Al-Ittihad (Arabic: الاتحاد "The Union"), sometimes transliterated as Al-Etihad or Al-Ettihad may refer to: Sports Football Libya *Al-Ittihad Club (Tripoli), a football club based in Bab Ben Gashier * Al Ittihad Gheryan, a football club bas ...

published a controversial article on the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, which resulted in the

Minister of Internal Affairs Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

Israel Rokach Israel Rokach, Honorary CBE ( he, ישראל רוקח; December 31, 1896 – September 13, 1959) was an Israeli politician, Knesset member, and fourth mayor of Tel Aviv from November 15, 1936 until April 13, 1953. Biography Israel Rokach was bo ...

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

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. 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 or declaration of statehood or proclamation 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 ...

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 Israel Panner (1909 - May 1973), also known by the pen names Ike Rennap and Harry Robertson, was an Austrian/British writer and journalist. Active in Jewish and Communist circles, in 1934 Panner became secretary the Jewish Colonization Associati ...

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 mid 19th Century to ...

1937 establishments in Mandatory Palestine 1975 disestablishments in Israel Newspapers established in 1937 Publications disestablished in 1975 Hebrew-language newspapers Communist newspapers published in Israel Defunct newspapers published in Israel {{israel-newspaper-stub