[News] How does Israel restrict its media from reporting on the Iran conflict?

[Anti-Imperialist News]

 How does Israel restrict its media from reporting on the Iran conflict?

*The military censor has introduced a slew of new restrictions on
journalists covering the unfolding war. *
[image: Iran]
Professor Roee Ozeri speaks to the media surrounded by rubble caused by an
Iranian missile strike at the campus of the Weizmann Institute of Science
on Sunday, in Rehovot, Israel [Violeta Santos Moura/Reuters]
By Simon Speakman Cordall
<https://www.aljazeera.com/author/simon-speakman-cordall>
Published On 19 Jun 2025 -
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/19/how-does-israel-restrict-its-media-from-reporting-on-the-iran-conflict
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The Israeli government has issued new directives restricting how its media
covers its current war with Iran
<https://www.aljazeera.com/tag/israel-iran-conflict/>.

On Wednesday, a circular from Israel’s military censor, Brigadier General
Kobi Mandelblit, announced new rules on what Israeli media organisations
and journalists within the country can – and cannot – publish about the
effect of Iranian strikes.

The legal underpinnings of censorship in Israel are older than the country
itself.

Restrictions on media freedom in the territory were first established by
the British during their Mandate for Palestine in 1945, before being
incorporated into Israeli law after the state was created three years later.

However, restrictions on press freedom in Israel go further than just
outlawing aspects of journalists’ reporting.

According to figures from the International Federation of Journalists
(IFJ), Israel has killed at least 164 journalists in Gaza since October 7,
2023. More have been killed in Lebanon, the occupied West Bank and, now,
Iran.

Since May 2024,
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/6/israel-bans-al-jazeera-what-does-it-mean-and-what-happens-next>
the Israeli government has banned Al Jazeera from its territory and, since
November, has sanctioned the Israeli liberal daily, Haaretz
<https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/24/israel-sanctions-haaretz-due-to-articles-that-hurt-israeli-state>,
over coverage considered critical of its actions.

So, what are the new restrictions on journalists and how does media freedom
in Israel stack up against that in other countries?

Here’s what we know.
What do the new restrictions involve?

The new regulations relate specifically to the conflict with Iran. They
place special restrictions on the way journalists and editors can report
the impact of Iranian strikes on Israel.

In a circular <https://x.com/shlomo_karhi/status/1935330720362139958>,
published on Wednesday, titled Rising Lion – IDF Censor Guidelines for
Media Coverage of Attack on the Israeli Home Front, the office of Israel’s
chief military censor ordered editors to take “strict measures” when
reporting on missile and drone attacks.

The censor is also warning against reporting anything that could indicate
attack positions or air defence operations, or damage assessments that
could “assist the enemy” and pose “a tangible threat to state security”.

Specifically, journalists and editors are prohibited from:

   - Filming or broadcasting images from impact sites, particularly near
   military installations.
   - Using drones or wide-angle cameras to show impact areas.
   - Detailing the precise location of affected areas near security
   installations.
   - Broadcasting images of Israeli missiles being launched or of Iranian
   missiles being intercepted.
   - The directive also bans the sharing of videos from social media
   without prior review by the censor, cautioning – as a side note – that some
   may be “enemy-generated fake news”.

The new restrictions have taken immediate effect. Photographers in the port
city of Haifa were arrested in the early hours of Tuesday morning while
setting up cameras to capture images of potential strikes on the port.
[image: iran strike]A general view of Soroka Medical Center following a
missile strike by Iran on Israel, in Beersheba, Israel, on June 19, 2025
[Amir Cohen/Reuters] What restrictions were already in place before this?

Journalists and editors were already required to submit any article that
could touch upon Israel’s security to the military censor for approval
ahead of publication.

Under the existing regulations, the censor has the power to halt
publication of any article if “there is a “near certainty that real damage
will be caused to the security of the state” by its publication.

It may not, however, restrict articles or reports on the grounds that they
might damage the reputation of either the Israeli army or the country’s
politicians.

In 2023, Israel’s already tight restrictions were increased via an
amendment to the country’s anti-terrorism law which punishes those who
“systematically and continuously consume terrorist publications” or who
broadcast  “a direct call to commit an act of terrorism”.

According to media freedom organisations, such as the Index on Censorship
<https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2024/05/israeli-military-censor-bans-highest-number-of-articles-in-over-a-decade/?utm_source=chatgpt.com>,
even before the new restrictions on reporting the Iran conflict were
introduced, the censor’s definition of “security issues” was very broad,
covering topics as diverse as the army, intelligence agencies, arms deals,
administrative detainees, aspects of Israel’s foreign affairs, and more.

Any journalist, publication or media group can appeal a decision by the
censor to the Supreme Court, which has the power to overturn its decisions.

How often does the censor take action?

Frequently.

In May, the Israeli-Palestinian magazine, + 972, described what it called
an “unprecedented spike in media censorship” since the start of the war on
Gaza.

According to the magazine, throughout 2024, Israel’s military censor fully
blocked 1,635 articles from being published and imposed partial
restrictions on another 6,265.

This amounted to an average of roughly 21 interventions in news stories
every day; more than twice the highest previous daily tally of about 10
interventions during the 2014 Gaza conflict (Operation Protective Edge),
and more than three times that typically recorded during peacetime of 6.2
per day.

Complicating matters are regulations banning outlets from stating whether
parts of an article have been censored, so readers cannot be certain what
information has been censored and what has not.
[image: INTERACTIVE - Iran most significant strikes on Israel
map-1750246877](Al Jazeera) How free is Israel’s media compared with other
‘Western-style’ democracies?

None of the countries that Israeli leaders typically compare themselves
with has any institution comparable to Israel’s military censor.

According to the Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) World Press Freedom Index,
Israel currently stands at 112th place out of 180 countries for freedom of
the press – below Haiti, Guinea Bissau, South Sudan and Chad.
<https://rsf.org/en/index>

According to the RSF: “Press freedom, media plurality and editorial
independence have been increasingly restricted in Israel since the start of
the war in Gaza, launched by Israel on 7 October 2023 following the deadly
Hamas attack.”

RSF also noted the importance given to political connections in choosing
the leadership of Israel’s broadcasting regulatory bodies and that only
firmly pro-government networks, such as Israel’s Channel 14, are generally
selected to host interviews with senior figures.
-
[image: Iranian missiles hit hospital and residential buildings in Israel]
Iranian missiles hit hospital and residential buildings in Israel
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