Gag Orders and Democracy

Israel has a vibrant democracy, where political representation in the Knesset is directly proportional to the votes cast throughout the country. While there have been some criticisms of restrictions on who is permitted to vote (Palestinians are generally not), Israel still maintains stringent free speech guidelines. In fact, many criticisms of Israel stem from internal media (conversely, Palestinian media is highly regulated).

However, occasionally, the Israeli military deems that certain national security issues may not be published in the local media. For example, information on the Israeli air strikes on Syrian nuclear facilities was prohibited from publication in Israeli newspapers.

A similar situation has unfolded in Israel, where a journalist obtained security sensitive information that was leaked to foreign news sources. Publications across the globe have run this news story, yet the Israeli media is still prohibited from publishing details on the case — until now.

The Israeli courts are reportedly on the verge of reversing the decision, particularly because the information is already widely available and any Israeli or Palestinian with access to the Internet can read the information in foreign media reports.

Former Supreme Court Justice and Press Council President Dalia Dorner said:

“If the entire world knows about it, issuing a gag order is baseless… We are a democratic state and when the regime makes a decision that a citizen or a newspaper doesn’t like, there are ways to fight it.”

The issue has pinpointed a problem with the Israeli gag orders — in highly globalized world, information travels at the speed of light and can’t be suppressed by court orders and media blackouts. In fact, the Israeli media published vague statements about the issue that anyone can search for on the Web.

Granted, certain security issues are not leaked to international audience and are only obtained by enterprising reporters in the local press. Those stories might merit some form blackout if they severely compromise Israeli security. A similar standard, albeit with less government imposition, here in the United States, where the White House and media outlets occasionally negotiate a freeze on publishing certain national security-related stories.

Oftem, the Israeli government does not want to confirm media reports on operations (see Syrian nuclear facility strike again). But, merely permitting the publication of information does not admit guilt or responsibility.

However, when the content of the articles are readily available on the Internet, the Israeli courts have no reason to deny requests from Israeli media outlets to publish details. Instead, Israel should maintain the balance between freedom of the press, democracy, and national security by only, under the most dire of circumstances, restrict the publication of information that is previously undisclosed.