Israeli military enforces media rules amid potential war crime charges
The Israeli military has imposed new restrictions on the media coverage of soldiers on active duty in Gaza, following the potential legal action against reservists travelling abroad over allegations of war crimes inside the strip, The New Arab reported on January 9th.
Under the new rules, the media will not be able to display the full names or faces of soldiers ranked colonel or under in interviews. This is similar to the existing restrictions in place for pilots and special forces units, Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesperson told reporters.
The interviewees must not be linked to a specific combat event they participated in.
READ: Israeli military hardens media rules over possible war crimes prosecution
The move came after an Israeli reservist who was vacationing in Brazil, fled the country when a Brazilian judge ordered federal police to open up an investigation into his involvement in potential war crimes in Gaza.
The allegations came from a Belgium-based pro Palestinian group, the Hind Rajab Foundation, who filed a complaint against the soldier, claiming he had destroyed civilian homes in Gaza in November as part of Israel’s war on the besieged enclave. Condemning the reservist’s escape from prosecution by Brazilian authorities, the foundation accused Israel of obstructing justice, despite calling for the soldier’s arrest to prevent him from leaving, The New Arab reported on January 5th.
Shoshani told reporters that under existing military rules, soldiers were already not supposed to post videos and other images from war zones on social media “even though that’s never perfect and we have a large army.”
The Israeli military spokesperson also said that there had been “a handful” of cases where reservists had been targeted by activist groups pushing authorities for investigation.
“They didn’t open an investigation, they didn’t press charges or anything like that,” Shoshani said.
Last year, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, along with a Hamas leader, Ibrahim Al-Masri, over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
READ: ICC issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant over Gaza war
The New Arab and agencies
