Israel Media Worried Over Looming Indictment
The Israeli government’s plans to indict an investigative reporter who exposed classified military practices for killing wanted Palestinian militants has sent a chill over Israel’s aggressive media and evoked dark warnings of a crusade to muzzle the press.
Israeli journalists have repeatedly accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to stifle the press since he took office three years ago.
Critics say the planned indictment of Uri Blau from the liberal Haaretz newspaper goes even further by undercutting the essence of journalism: keeping citizens informed of what their government is up to.
The government replies that despite his insistence that he was just doing his job, the journalist was holding classified documents illegally and will be charged. An Israeli government spokesman declined to comment on the wider issues.
Dozens of Israeli journalists demonstrated Sunday against the planned indictment outside the Justice Ministry in Jerusalem. Officials say formal charges are expected within weeks.
“The charge sheet is directed against all journalists,” Haaretz commentator Gideon Levy wrote in his column Sunday. “The next journalist who receives information about a scandal in the Israeli military will tell his source, ‘leave me alone. I don’t want to get into trouble. I don’t want to be another Blau.’”
