Censorship & Freedom of Information

A pro-Palestine action at the Port of Oakland, California, August 16, 2014. (Alex Chis/CC)

‘A legal shield for the Palestine movement in the U.S.’

Pro-Israel organizations are increasingly using the law to target Palestinian solidarity groups in the United States. Dima Khalidi, head of Palestine Legal, speaks with +972 Magazine about the ‘Palestine exception’ to free speech, and what her organization is doing to fight back.

By Amjad Iraqi October 18, 2017

A crowd of journalists stands in front of the Separation Wall during a protest for Land Day, held in front of the Qalandiya checkpoint, West Bank, March 30, 2013. Land Day commemorates the death of six Palestinian protesters at the hands of Israeli forces during mass demonstrations in 1976 against plans to confiscate Palestinian land in northern Israel. (Photo by: Anne Paq/Activestills.org)

Israeli body that accredits journalists honored for propaganda

The official Israeli government body that accredits journalists has just been honored by the country’s PR association for enhancing Israel’s image abroad. Anyone who values an independent and free press should be alarmed. The government bureau responsible for accrediting journalists in Israel was honored last month by Israel’s association of public relations professionals for its work…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man October 4, 2017

Palestinian security forces in Bethlehem. (Photo by Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Palestinian journalists the latest victim of Hamas-Fatah rivalry

Fatah-affiliated security forces arrest five journalists in the West Bank; Hamas forces are holding at least one journalist in Gaza. Palestinian rights groups demand both parties keep journalists out of their political rivalry. Palestinian Authority security services arrested five Palestinian journalists in the West Bank Tuesday night in what appears to be a worrying manifestation…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man August 9, 2017

Latest

Al Jazeera’s Jerusalem bureau, June 13, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Israel’s empty threat to ‘shut down’ Al Jazeera

Communications Minister Ayoub Kara held a press conference at which he promised to ‘close’ Al Jazeera. He doesn’t exactly have that type of authority, let alone the ability. By Moshe Ronen Israel’s new communications minister, Ayoub Kara, declared this week that he would act to shut down Al Jazeera’s operations in Israel. Speaking at a…

By +972 Magazine August 9, 2017

Rabbi Yosef Elitzur speaks with his lawyer in cour in 2010. (Roni Schutzer/Flash90)

Extremist rabbi indicted for incitement against Palestinians

The indictment, which was approved by Israel’s attorney general, was the result of a years-long petition demanding the state take action. Israel’s quasi-constitution has no explicit protection of free speech. A extremist Israeli settler rabbi who has published articles and books on the permissibility of killing non-Jews was indicted for incitement to violence on Tuesday,…

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man June 13, 2017

Illustrative photo of journalists at a demonstration at Qalandia. (Photo by Anne Paq/Activestills.org)

Israel expels Dutch journalist after he tweets +972 articles

The Israeli government office responsible for accrediting journalists takes issue with a foreign correspondent sharing +972 Magazine articles on social media, publishing critical stories, refuses to renew his visa. Israel’s Government Press Office has refused to renew the media accreditation for Derk Walters, a Dutch journalist who has been reporting from Israel-Palestine since 2014. Walters is the…

By Lisa Goldman May 4, 2017

A press photographer kicks away a tear gas canister that Israeli troops fired toward a group of journalists, Bil’in, February 19, 2016. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Report: Sharp spike in repression of Palestinian journalists

Two new reports document the growing repression of Palestinian journalists by Israeli forces last year. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Israel is currently imprisoning the same number of journalists as the Syrian regime. By Oren Persico Palestinian journalists have been subject to a severe increase in violations by Israeli security forces over the past several months, according…

By The Seventh Eye January 2, 2017

Israeli professor Asa Kasher attends a Foreign Affairs and security meeting in the Israeli parliament. November 3, 2014. (Miriam Alster/Flash 90)

Former IDF ethicist tapped to censor ‘political speech’ in Israeli universities

Professor Asa Kasher, whose code of ethics for the IDF found expression in the devastation of the 2014 Gaza war, is set to decide what lecturers at Israel’s universities and colleges can and can’t say. Education Minister Naftali Bennett intends to lay down new “ethical rules” for what lecturers at Israel’s centers of higher learning can and can’t say regarding politics,…

By Natasha Roth-Rowland December 9, 2016

The visitor’s center at the West Bank archeological site of Shiloh, in the Israeli settlement of Shilo. (Mendy Hechtman/Flash90)

Because BDS, Israeli archeologists want West Bank work kept secret

An Israeli court rejects a freedom of information request for the names of archeologists digging, under IDF license, in the occupied territories, and where Israel is storing the antiquities they uncover. The reason: so they don’t face academic boycott. The Jerusalem District Court on Monday refused to reveal the names of archeologists performing digs at…

By Haggai Matar November 22, 2016

A full panel of the Israeli Supreme Court. (Illustrative photo, Flash90)

Israel’s surefire way of keeping its citizens in the dark

The Israeli establishment used to rely on the IDF Censor to make sure the media didn’t ask questions. Nowadays it uses court-sanctioned gag orders. By Shuki Tausig Did you hear about…and about…or what about…how could you have missed that? After all, we are talking about newsworthy events, the kind that open the 8 o’clock news. So how…

By The Seventh Eye October 10, 2016

Illustrative photo by Jennifer Moo (CC BY-ND 2.0)

IDF Censor redacts 1 in 5 articles it reviews for publication

The Israeli military censor has redacted, in full or in part, over 17,000 articles since 2011. While fewer articles have been censored in 2015 and 2016, the new IDF Censor is attempting to redact already-published information with alarming frequency. The Israeli Military Censor has outright banned the publication of 1,936 articles and redacted some information from 14,196…

By Haggai Matar September 26, 2016

A photo of Omar Nazzal from a demonstration calling for his release. (Flash90)

Palestinian journalist jailed by Israel was arrested for criticizing PA, lawyer says

Israel has been holding Palestinian journalist Omar Nazzal without charge or trial for over four months. In an interview, his attorney says that is because he criticized the PA over its handling of an assassination at its embassy in Bulgaria. By Oren Persico and Nimrod Halberthal This past April, Palestinian journalist Omar Nazzal set out to travel from his…

By The Seventh Eye September 7, 2016

Palestinian women cross Qalandiya checkpoint, a main crossing point between Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah, as they head to Al-Aqsa Mosque for the first Friday prayer of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. (photo: Ahmad al-Bazz/Activestills.org)

Gag order extended as police refuse to release CCTV footage of Qalandiya killing

A Palestinian mother of two and her 16-year-old brother were shot and killed by Israeli security guards at Qalandiya checkpoint in April, even though eyewitnesses say they posed no risk. The police refuse to release the CCTV footage – maybe they know something we don’t? By John Brown* More than four months after a shooting…

By +972 Magazine August 30, 2016