Iran strikes damage hard to assess under Israeli military censorship
Israel has acknowledged being hit by more than 50 missiles during the 12-day war with Iran, but the true extent of the damage may never be known due to stringent press restrictions.
Such regulations are nothing new in Israel, where any written or visual publication deemed potentially harmful to the loosely defined concept of "national security" can be banned by law.
Censorship predates the creation of Israel in 1948, when the territory was under a British mandate.
But with the recent missile barrages from Iran that managed to breach Israel's vaunted air defences and kill 28 people, the restrictions were further tightened.
Any broadcast from a "combat zone or missile impact site" requires written authorisation from the military censor, according to the Israeli Government Press Office, which is responsible for government communications and for accrediting journalists.
This requirement is particularly stringent when strikes land near military bases, oil refineries, or other facilities deemed strategic.
"There is, of course, a very real national security dimension. You don't want to tell the enemy exactly where its bombs landed, or help them improve targeting," said Jerome Bourdon, professor of media sociology at Tel Aviv University.
"But this also maintains uncertainty around the country's vulnerability to external threats. We probably will never know the full extent of the damage," he added.
– 'Reverse the narrative' –
Most of the government's communication during the war focused on its military successes, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday praising a "historic victory" over Iran.
For Bourdon, the tightening of media coverage also reflects "a very clear desire to reverse the narrative", at a time when Israel faces harsh international criticism over its war in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands and triggered dire humanitarian conditions.
On June 19, Defence Minister Israel Katz accused Tehran of "deliberately targeting hospitals and residential buildings" after a hospital in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba was hit, injuring around 40 people.
Katz accused Iran of "the most serious war crimes", while Iran denied intentionally targeting the health centre.
Meanwhile, human rights defenders regularly condemn Israel's destruction of the healthcare system in Gaza and the targeting of hospitals under the claim that they are used by Palestinian militants.
During the war with Iran, media coverage near sites of missile strikes in Israel's civilian areas was occasionally hindered, as foreign reporters were prevented from filming wide shots or specifying the exact location of the impacts.
In the central Israeli city of Ramat Gan, police interrupted the live broadcast of two Western news agencies filming a gutted building, suspecting them of providing the footage to Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera.
Israel banned the outlet in May 2024, alleging it has ties with Palestinian militant group Hamas, which Al Jazeera has denied.
– 'Illegal content' –
In a statement, police said they had acted to stop the broadcast of "illegal content" in accordance with the "policy" of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
The far-right cabinet member, known for his incendiary rhetoric against critics, vowed on June 16 to take tough action against anyone who "undermines the security of the state".
"Zero tolerance for those who help the enemy," echoed Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi.
The two ministers "make claims that exceed the legal framework of their powers, and also are very, very extreme," said Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler, a researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute.
"Usually, they make a lot of noise" in order to "get political gain from this publicity," she told AFP.
Beyond political calculations, "these officials show a deep mistrust, a real hostility toward the liberal Israeli media, and especially toward the foreign media," said professor Bourdon.
The Government Press Office on Thursday reaffirmed its commitment to "freedom of the press... as a fundamental right" and insisted it makes "no distinction between Israeli and non-Israeli journalists".
cl/mj/glp/acc/rlp/dv
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bloomberg
16 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Iran Dismisses Trump's Claim of Nuclear Talks Resuming Next Week
Iran denied that nuclear talks with the US are scheduled to resume, diminishing prospects for diplomacy after President Donald Trump suggested a deal could come as early as next week. 'I say explicitly that no agreement, arrangement or discussion has taken place regarding the initiation of new negotiations,' Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an interview with state TV late Thursday. 'Some of the speculation about the resumption of negotiations should not be taken seriously.'
Washington Post
44 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Iranian Kurdish dissidents abroad watch for signs of Tehran vulnerability after war with Israel
IRBIL, Iraq — From abroad, Iranian Kurdish dissident groups have been watching closely for signs that Iran's theocracy could falter in its grip on the country , battered by Israeli airstrikes in the intense, 12-day war until a U.S.-negotiated ceasefire halted the fighting. Israel launched the strikes on June 13, drawing Iranian missiles that targeted Israel. But it was not until the United States inserted itself into the war and hit Iranian nuclear sites on Sunday, including with 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs , that the war came to a watershed moment.
Associated Press
an hour ago
- Associated Press
Iranian Kurdish dissidents abroad watch for signs of Tehran vulnerability after war with Israel
IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — From abroad, Iranian Kurdish dissident groups have been watching closely for signs that Iran's theocracy could falter in its grip on the country, battered by Israeli airstrikes in the intense, 12-day war until a U.S.-negotiated ceasefire halted the fighting. Israel launched the strikes on June 13, drawing Iranian missiles that targeted Israel. But it was not until the United States inserted itself into the war and hit Iranian nuclear sites on Sunday, including with 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs, that the war came to a watershed moment. Now, with the fragile ceasefire holding and many Iranians trying to return to a normal life, questions swirl about whether and how much the war has weakened Iran's clerical rule, in place since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iranian Kurdish exiles in Iraq mull their options A handful of Iranian Kurdish groups — many with a distinctly militant past — have long found a safe haven in northern Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish region, but their presence has been a point of friction between the central government in Baghdad and Tehran. Iraq in 2023 reached an agreement with Iran to disarm the groups and move them from their bases near the border areas with Iran — where they potentially posed an armed challenge to Tehran — into camps designated by Baghdad. Their armed bases were shut down and their movement within Iraq restricted, but the groups have not entirely given up their weapons. Officials with two prominent Iranian Kurdish groups in Iraq told The Associated Press they are trying to organize politically to ensure that they would not be sidelined should the administration in Iran lose its hold on power. When asked if their groups were preparing an armed uprising, they either denied it or avoided a direct response. Mixed expectations of any real change in Tehran President Donald Trump floated the idea of 'regime change' in Tehran in the wake of the U.S. strikes, only to have his administration later say that was not the goal. Some of the Kurdish dissidents say they expect no immediate upheaval in Iran's ruling theocracy. 'Some of the parties think this war between Iran and Israel is a good opportunity for us' to advance the Kurdish cause, said Khalil Naderi, spokesperson for the Kurdistan Freedom Party, or PAK, a separatist Iranian Kurdish group based in Iraq. But Naderi disagreed with that premise. 'The U.S. and Israel attacked Iran to protect themselves from its weapons, not for Kurdish rights,' he said. Any premature armed mobilization on their part could endanger both the Kurdish groups and the fragile security of the Kurdish areas, both in Iraq and across the border in Iran, Naderi said. His stand was a contrast to that of PAK leader Hussein Yazdanpanah, who days after the outbreak of the Israel-Iran war, called on X for Kurdish youth to rise against the authorities in Tehran. 'Attack the enemy, its centers, and its facilities' and 'avenge the blood' of their fallen, Yazdanpanah posted. And last week in Washington, where he had been pushing U.S. officials to include the Kurds in plans for a potential 'day after' in Iran, Abdullah Mohtadi, the head of the leftist Komala Party from Iran's Kurdish regions, said he hopes the Israel-Iran war could represent a turning point. 'War can bring about internal domestic change,' he said. 'We hope that this time this will be the case.' Lessons from war Mohtadi denied that any external player, including the U.S. and Israel, had encouraged Kurdish groups to take up arms. But he didn't rule out the possibility that they would. 'We haven't at the moment called for an uprising, or we haven't called for an armed struggle, but we are monitoring developments very closely,' he said. Mohtadi maintained that Komala has avoided an armed struggle for nearly 30 years and that its camps in northern Iraq are purely for 'self defense.' Both Komala and the PAK, as well as another exiled Kurdish group, the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan or KDPI, have fought Iranian authorities in the past — but also sometimes fought against each other. The groups have different approaches to the question of Kurdish separatism. PAK advocates for an independent Kurdish state, while Komala and KDPI want a system in Iran similar to that in northern Iraq, where Iraqi Kurds have a semiautonomous and self-governed region. Iran has occasionally launched strikes on the Iranian Kurdish dissidents, but none during the Israel-Iran war this month. Divisions among the groups The dissident groups are walking a fine line, balancing the differences among themselves and with their hosts in Iraq, the Iraqi Kurds and the Iraqi government in Baghdad — neither of which they want to antagonize. Despite having shared grievances over the marginalization of Kurds in Iran, the Iranian Kurdish parties have not been able to build a consensus 'We haven't been able to unite, even though we would like to,' Naderi said. In March, ahead of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, the Kurdish dissident groups had planned to 'meet and discuss' Kurdish rights and destiny, but plans fell through. Even now, he said, coordination remains elusive. Kawsar Fattahi, a central committee member of Komala, said the dissidents should not plan for 'the fall of the regime, but on what will happen after that.' 'Because our goal is to rebuild a new Iran,' she said. Mohtadi, the Komala leader, said he has tried to reassure Washington that his group is not separatist but wants a 'democratic, secular federal Iran where the rights of Kurds and other ethnic groups are protected by the new constitution.' He denied anyone is pushing Komala into armed conflict. 'We aren't puppets,' Mohtadi said. 'Nobody has asked us to rise (up). We will decide when is the right time.' ___ Knickmeyer reported from Washington.
