While fighting between Israel and Gaza militants rages on for a fourth week, there's another war being fought among Israelis themselves — a war on speech. The nation is proud of its tolerance for free expression. But some Israelis critical of the war say their views are under attack; others say the dissent has gone too far.
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If there's one place in Israel where you'd expect anti-war demonstrations to be tolerated, it's bohemian Tel Aviv. But last Saturday night, human rights activist Avi Blecherman and a friend were coming home from a protest when three Israelis pounced on them in the stairwell.
"And then they just told me, you know, 'You're a leftist. You're a traitor,' " he says. "And then they just pushed me to this door over there and started beating me and the woman that was with me. Head, chest, arms, legs."
They were fine, but Blecherman is still shaken.
"Something really, really bad is happening to the Israeli society," he says. "It will stay here with us even after the war is ending."
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