OPINION: Israel’s media lockdown in Gaza betrays its democratic ideals
The IDF’s restrictions on foreign media access undermines the very freedoms Israel upholds — and hand Hamas a propaganda victory
Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. It is a claim I hear hasbara activists in Britain smugly make at every counter-protest and Zionist rally they attend.
They are proud of this fact. And rightly so.
But, sadly, so few of these megaphone activists are prepared to question Netanyahu’s government as it slowly erodes the rights they claim to hold dear.
A fundamental tenet of a thriving democracy has always been a free press. This means facilitating and supporting a diverse media that is free (even encouraged) to ask difficult, challenging, probing questions of a Government – even a Government at war.
Sadly, the Israeli Government and the IDF have been frustrating the jobs of journalists since it launched its war against Hamas in late 2023.
Most overtly, this has been by preventing any independent journalists from freely entering or accessing the besieged Gaza strip to report on the IDF’s military assault.
In response, a coalition of 18 British, Jewish journalists (myself included) from across the political spectrum signed an open letter addressed to the Israeli and Egyptian Governments deferentially asking that foreign, Western media be given access to Gaza. Now.
Amongst the signatories were ITV’s Robert Peston, ex-BBC newsreader and The News Agents podcaster Emily Maitlis, The Sun’s Noa Hoffman, and The Sunday Times’ Gabriel Pogrund.
They – like me – are demanding that journalists be allowed to enter and explore all areas of Gaza, not just the areas the IDF permits. The letter also insists journalists should be able to speak with whomever they want to in pursuit of the truth.
And, fundamentally, we argue the media should be able to operate freely within the Strip without IDF minders or chaperones.
So far limited access to the Strip has only been possible via IDF embeds. Cherry-picked journalists (usually American broadcasters) are given permission to join the IDF in Gaza usually to observe a mission, see a Hamas tunnel or visit a site of conflict. But this is frankly not good enough for a so-called bastion of democracy.
The risk is for the individual journalists and their employer to take; not for the IDF to paternalistically decide on their behalf
The IDF claims it is preventing access to protect journalists. But in all conflicts it is normal and expected that press are given access to the frontlines so they can do their jobs properly.
Western journalists have operated in Ukraine, Syria, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone to name a few – risking their lives everyday.
I have worked in Israel and Ukraine and been forced to seek shelter from missiles while doing my job. Of course, it is dangerous for journalists to cover deadly conflicts. But the risk is for the individual journalists and their employer to take; not for the IDF to paternalistically decide on their behalf.
Journalists have and do die in their pursuit of the truth: Shireen Abu Akleh, Marie Colvin and James Miller to name a few. But if reporters are not on the ground witnessing the tragedies of war with their own eyes and listening to the unlikely tales of heroism with their own ears – then they are doing their readers as well as the wider world a complete disservice.
War cannot be allowed to take place behind closed doors. And with Gaza, crimes against Palestinians must not be ignored.
There is a pro-Israel case to be made here too (not that it should really matter as for me this is a point of absolute principle).
But on several occasions blatantly false information has been allowed to spread in the Western press which is dependent on the Hamas-controlled Government for information. One notable example was the alleged bombing of the Al-Ahli Arab hospital in October 2023.
Shortly after an explosion near the hospital the Hamas run health ministry claimed 500 people had been killed in a direct Israeli rocket strike on the hospital. This was quickly repeated in the media. After weeks of analysis it was found the casualty numbers were much lower, the projectile had hit the hospital car park, not the hospital itself, and that it had likely come from a faulty Hamas missile not an Israeli strike.
This PR damage would have been so much more avoidable, and obvious falsehoods would more quickly be proved wrong if trustworthy, accountable journalists were on the ground in Gaza able to fact-check these claims for themselves.
I understand it is not unusual for countries at war to censor some information to protect sensitive military secrets like the locations of soldiers and covert operations.
But that does not mean we should completely abandon our principles. As a journalist freedom of the press to report accurately, truthfully, without fear and without favour, trumps everything for me.
And as war sadly rages on in Gaza it is becoming ever more important for journalists to be granted access and accurately draw up that first rough draft of history.
We must not allow this war to be conducted in the shadows. Because, as The Washington Post notes in its powerful masthead: democracy dies in darkness.
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