Israeli Govt Account Posts Video of Missile Impact Site After Far-Right Minister’s Crackdown on Foreign Media Doing the Same
(AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
The official X account of the State of Israel posted a video clip of an Iranian missile impact site on Friday, a day after National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir accused foreign journalists of endangering the public by “broadcasting missile strike locations.”
Ben-Gvir, the leader of the far-right Jewish Power party, joined Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi in ordering all foreign media to seek government approval to broadcast images from missile impact sites and combat zones. The joint statement said “foreign media outlets operating in Israel are violating censorship directives,” reported CNN on Thursday.
“These broadcasts often reveal the exact locations of missile impacts, the extent of the damage, and in some cases, sensitive visual material from the incident sites,” they argued in their statement.
“The media anarchy of the foreign media is over,” added Ben-Gvir in his fiery attack, vowing that “anyone who does not respect the security rules will be dealt with by the Israel Police.”
The Israeli Military Censor has long restricted what local media, as well as foreign journalists inside Israel, are allowed to print and approves reports related to IDF operations and national security issues. On Thursday, authorities stopped live feeds from Reuters and the AP, claiming that Al Jazeera was using them in their broadcasts, reported Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Yair Lapid, the leader of Israel’s opposition party, called Ben-Gvir’s order ineffective in an age of social media and smartphones.
Lapid said the “decision to put into place a sweeping embargo on coverage is unenforceable when everyone has a cell phone with a camera, and pointlessly undermines the global support Israel has received this past week for the just war we are fighting.”
The X video posted on Friday included a caption that read, “BREAKING: The Iranian regime has just launched a barrage of ballistic missiles at Haifa—a city where Jews and Arabs live side by side in peace. One missile struck next to a mosque. The Iranian regime is firing indiscriminately at civilians—with zero regard for who they hit.”
The video appeared to make no effort to hide the location of the impact as it panned around to the nearby skyline.
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