On Sunday, the TV channel Al Jazeera was shut down in Israel. This is the latest in a long series of setbacks for press freedom in the Middle East’s only democracy. Rather than criticize and debate their coverage, Netanyahu’s government has chosen the authoritarian line.
Since Hamas carried out the terrorist attack on Israel on 7 October last year, Gaza has been closed to international journalists. It is not possible for international journalists to be allowed to do independent journalistic work.
Local journalists have made a heroic effort to convey to the outside world what is happening there. Many of them are experienced, skilled journalists who work with international editor-managed media. The fact that close to 100 journalists have lost their lives since the war began shows how high a risk they take.
Despite the efforts these make, the absence of international press is very unfortunate. To a far too great extent, the task of communicating what is happening on the ground in Gaza is left to activists on social media and exhausted local journalists.
VG and other media try to the best of their ability to cover what is happening, with critical and independent journalism. For example, VG’s journalist documented the extensive destruction from the air in a Jordanian emergency aid plane.
Of course, it would have been easier to describe what is happening if the international press could supplement the local journalists. Be present to see with your own eyes and talk to witnesses and victims yourself.
Journalistic work in war always involves risk, and the dangers of working in areas like Gaza are obvious. It should be the individual media house, not the Israeli state, that makes the decision on whether journalists should travel in and cover the warfare in Gaza.
In practice, the only possibility to enter Gaza as a journalist today is to travel with the Israeli Defense Forces. It involves agreeing to completely unacceptable restrictions, and without the possibility for the journalists themselves to choose who they talk to.
Russia places similar restrictions on journalists’ ability to cover the war in the occupied territories of Ukraine.
It is incomprehensible that Israel wants to be in such company.
No, neither Hamas nor the states Israel borders are beacons of freedom of expression. On the contrary. The local journalists in Gaza must be careful not to fall out of favor with Hamas. Both Egypt and several Gulf states have previously shut down Al Jazeera there.
The fact that other states and organizations shun press freedom is no excuse for the democracy of Israel to do the same.
A serious aspect of this is that the Israeli population receives limited information about what is happening in Gaza. It also happens at a time when the outside world needs more, not less, information about the war.
Spokesman for the Israeli government David Mencer said in an interview with NRK’s Yama Wolasmal that Israel has set the gold standard in warfare. If it is true, they should let the press in to see it with their own eyes.
Instead of shutting down the media they don’t like, the Israeli authorities should go the opposite way and let the international press in.
Listen to today’s Giæver and the gang: Will there be a ground invasion in Rafah?
