IDF restricts media coverage of soldiers to protect them from risk of legal action Israeli military’s new rules intended to protect reservists travelling overseas from facing allegations of war crimes.
The Israeli military has placed new restrictions on media coverage of soldiers on active combat duty because of growing concern about the risk of legal action against reservists travelling abroad over allegations of involvement in war crimes in Gaza.
Under the new rules, media interviewing soldiers of the rank of colonel and under will not be able to display their full names or faces, similar to the rules that already exist for pilots and members of special forces units, Lt Col Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesperson told reporters.
He said that under existing military rules, soldiers were already not supposed to post videos and other images from war zones on social media “even though that’s never perfect and we have a large army”.
Shoshani said activist groups, such as the Belgium-based Hind Rajab Foundation, which pushed for the action in Brazil, were “connecting the dots” between soldiers who posted material from Gaza and then posted other photos and videos of themselves while on holiday abroad.
