How does Israel restrict its media from reporting on the Iran conflict? | Israel-Iran conflict News

The Israeli government has published new guidelines restricting how its media cover its current War with Iran.

On Wednesday, a circular from the Israeli military censor, Brigadier General Kobi Mandelblit, announced new rules on what media organizations and Israeli journalists in the country can – and cannot – publish on the effect of Iranian strikes.

The legal foundations of censorship in Israel are older than the country itself.

Restrictions on media freedom on the territory were established for the first time by the British during their mandate for Palestine in 1945, before being incorporated into Israeli law after the creation of the State three years later.

However, restrictions on press freedom in Israel will be further than simply banning the aspects of journalists’ reports.

According to figures from the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Israel has killed at least 164 journalists in Gaza since October 7, 2023. More killed in Lebanon, in the occupied West Bank and, now, in Iran.

Since May 2024, The Israeli government has prohibited Al Jazeera from its territory and, since November, has sanctioned The Israeli liberal daily, HaaretzOn the coverage considered to be critical of his actions.

So what are the new restrictions to journalists and how did the media behave against this in other countries?

Here’s what we know.

What do new restrictions imply?

The new regulations specifically concern conflict with Iran. They impose special restrictions on how journalists and publishers can point out the impact of Iranian strikes on Israel.

In a circularPosted on Wednesday, entitled Rising Lion – IDF Censor Guidelines for Media Coverage of Attack on the Israel Home Front, the office of the chief military censorship of Israel has ordered publishers to take “strict measures” when the missile and drones attacks are reported.

Censorship also warns against the reporting of everything that could indicate attack positions or air defense operations, or damage assessments that could “help the enemy” and constitute “a tangible threat to state security”.

More specifically, journalists and publishers are prohibited from:

• Film or disseminate images from impact sites, in particular near military installations.
• Use drones or wide angle cameras to show impact areas.
• Ceal the precise location of the affected areas near the safety facilities.
• Distribute images of launched Israeli missiles or intercepted Iranian missiles.
• The directive also prohibits the sharing of social media videos without prior examination of censorship, warning – in secondary note – that some may be “false news generated enemy”.

The new restrictions have taken immediate effect. The photographers of the port city of Haifa were arrested in the early hours of Tuesday morning when he set up cameras to capture images of potential strikes on the port.

What restrictions were already in place before that?

Journalists and publishers were already required to submit any article that could tackle the security of Israel to the military censor for approval before the publication.

Under the current regulations, the censur has the power to stop the publication of any article if there is “a quasi-certainty that real damage will be caused to the security of the state” by its publication.

However, he may not restrict articles or reports on the grounds that they could harm the reputation of the Israeli army or politicians in the country.

In 2023, the restrictions already tight of Israel were increased by a modification of the anti -terrorist law of the country which punishes those which “systematically and continuously consume terrorist publications” or which disseminated “a direct appeal to commit an act of terrorism”.

According to Liberty Media Organizations, such as Censorship indexEven before the new restrictions on the declaration of the Iranian conflict were introduced, the definition of censorship of “security problems” was very wide, covering subjects as diverse as the army, intelligence agencies, arms agreements, administrative prisoners, aspects of Israel’s foreign affairs, and more.

Any journalist, publication or group of media can appeal a decision of censorship at the Supreme Court, which has the power to overthrow its decisions.

How often does the censor act?

Frequently.

In May, the Israeli-Palestinian magazine, + 972, described what he called an “unprecedented peak in media censorship” since the start of the war against Gaza.

According to the magazine, throughout 2024, the military censor of Israel completely blocked 1,635 articles after being published and imposed partial restrictions on 6,265 others.

This represented on average around 21 interventions in reports every day; More than double the highest daily count of approximately 10 interventions during the 2014 Gaza conflict (EDGE protective operation), and more than three times that which has generally recorded in peacetime of 6.2 per day.

Complicated questions are regulations prohibiting points of sale say if parts of an article have been censored, readers cannot be certain what information was censored and what did not do it.

None of the countries with which Israeli leaders generally compare themselves with an institution comparable to Israeli military censorship.

According to the index of journalists Without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom, Israel is currently in 112nd place out of 180 countries for the freedom of the press – below Haiti, Guinea Bissau, Sudan from the South and Chad.

According to the RSF: “Press freedom, the plurality of the media and editorial independence have been increasingly limited in Israel since the start of the war in Gaza, launched by Israel on October 7, 2023 following the deadly attack of Hamas.”

The RSF has also noted the importance given to political ties in the choice of the regulatory bodies of Israeli broadcasting and that only the firmly government networks, such as the Israel Canal 14, are generally selected to accommodate interviews with high -level figures.