Today (December 13) a strongly worded public confrontation took place at the Herzliya Conference between journalist Ilana Dayan, the presenter for Channel Two's “Ovda,” (Fact) and IDF spokeswoman Ruth Yaron. During a workshop entitled “Society, Media, and the Administration,” General Yaron attacked Dayan for broadcasting a tape in which soldiers involved in the shooting death of a 13-year-old Palestinian girl in Gaza exchanged words. Last night, Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon strongly attacked the program's operation team because of the story, broadcast a few weeks ago, describing it as “false and distasteful.”

Yaron attacked Dayan after the latter said, “The army is not able to confront an investigative program like ‘Ovda.' You don't usually report the facts of the incident to the public. You are used to biased reports.” Commenting on this, Yaron yelled from audience to Dayan, “You refrain from nothing. Even you, a professional journalist, fabricated a tape to dramatize the incident. You refrain from nothing. For you, a visual image is the first priority and precludes anything else, even the truth.”

Dayan responded, “If you can point to one falsehood in the report and discuss it, I'm prepared to talk to you. But I'm not prepared to discuss it like this.” Yaron and Dayan continued the discussion in a closed room.

Reader responses to the article

The army has become a band of generals in a dictatorship!—Our end will be bitter!

“Ovda” has been biased for a long time, and it does not really inspire. Apparently one needs to create stories to profit—Investigative programs.

The IDF spokeswoman should submit her resignation

She should have done that as well following the incident of the ambulance that was accused of smuggling Qassam rockets. After the army and the Prime Minister accused the United Nations of helping terrorists, and even of anti-Semitism, it became clear that their statements had no basis in fact. Of course, no investigation was made into this, and no one took responsibility for the consequences. In dictatorships there are no outcries or riots—Nadav.

Dayan has joined Mohammed Bakri

I congratulate you, Ilana Dayan, for joining your friend Mohammed Bakri in insulting the IDF soldiers who guard us. Let's boycott Channel Two until it stops broadcasting her program. There should not be journalists like this who acts like they're reporting for Hizbollah's Manar network on an Israeli channel of such importance. Ilana, we see with our own eyes how much you hate the IDF and how you spoke to the IDF spokeswoman. May the Lord punish you for the harm you have caused to IDF soldiers and the country as a whole. Now no one should watch “Ovda” until Channel Two stops broadcasting it. That's if there is no boycott of Channel Two itself. This is the only way that extreme leftist journalists will learn that they should not insult IDF soldiers—Asher.

The army is trying to suppress the truth as usual.

Be men! I am ashamed of your shameful, disgraceful behavior! How can they not hate us when we've been occupying them for 37 years? The time has come for us to wake up!—Me.

We are still waiting to hear about the situation in which Dayan did not tell the truth. “Ovda,” and before it the director of UNRWA, has given us examples of outright lies issued by the IDF spokesman. So can the IDF spokesman tell us what Ilana Dayan lied about, so that we can decide who the honest one here is?—Cobi.

To Ms. Yaron, the IDF investigated the killing of the 13-year-old girl! That's it—Like this.

Ilana Dayan is an anti-Israeli, anti-IDF leftist

Under the cover of freedom of the press, Ilana Dayan reveals her anti-Israel and anti-Zionist stance, which is perfectly compatible with post-Zionism. She is harming Israel and becoming famous for it. She is not ready to support the army like American journalists, who always take a patriotic stance, even though she benefits from the elimination of terrorism and IDF operations ensure her personal and national security. The IDF provides her personal protection by combating terrorism, while she disparages it every chance she gets. This is the ingratitude typical of post-Zionism. The same goes for the women's rights movement, which just wants to get back at men because of jealousy, and all this at the expense of Israel 's reputation—Mami.