Netanyahu minister wants to revoke credentials of journalists critical of Israel
Israeli Public Diplomacy Minister Galit Distal Atbaryan. Photo by Moti Milrod/Haaretz
This article originally appeared on Haaretz, and was reprinted here with permission. Sign up here to get Haaretz’s free Daily Brief newsletter delivered to your inbox.
Israeli Public Diplomacy Minister Galit Distal Atbaryan has mounted a concerted effort to gain control over the Government Press Office, stating in private conversations that she wanted the authority to deny press credentials to foreign journalists critical of Israel.
According to a Wednesday morning report by national broadcaster Kan, the Likud politician reached out to the Prime Minister’s Office Director General Yossi Shelley on multiple occasions to request that he transfer responsibility for the press office to her ministry but was repeatedly rebuffed.
She was also reported to have inappropriately pressured the Civil Service Commission to appoint an ally to a position within the press office.
The press office, usually referred to as the GPO by journalists, is tasked with managing coordination between the government and the press but has recently come under fire for acting beyond its jurisdiction to produce PR clips for politicians, including Distal Atbaryan.
Earlier this summer, the Foreign Press Association slammed the minister after she released a GPO-produced video decrying “fake” news from international media outlets.
Distal Atbaryan’s attacks on the international press “could endanger reporters in Israel,” the association, which represents hundreds of foreign correspondents in Israel, said in a statement, asserting that the use of such language “undermines the values of democracy and a free press.”
Fight the fake: a quick guide in reading the news about Israel. pic.twitter.com/qFcRosVE0N
— משרד ההסברה - Israeli Ministry of Public Diplomacy (@ILPubDiplo) June 27, 2023
Responding to calls to take down the video, Distal Atbaryan tweeted that while Israel respects freedom of speech, as Minister of Public Diplomacy she would “not allow the biased coverage that is being conducted in our backyard to exist without an appropriate response.”
Since returning to power, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s allies have advocated a number of steps to put pressure on the independent media in Israel — including demanding a criminal investigation into a reporter over her social media posts.
Last month, Israeli journalists and news networks slammed a government-proposed overhaul of the country’s communications sector, stating that it would crush free media.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi’s proposals include the dissolution of the Cable and Satellite Council as well as the Second Authority of Television and Radio, which supervise television and radio broadcasts in Israel.
Such policies constitute an effort “to eliminate the press,” the Jerusalem Journalists Association said in a statement, protesting what it described as “severe damage to public broadcasting.” It predicted that under the new rules, there would be little separation between commercial and journalistic content.
Earlier this year, Karhi, who also threatened to halt government funding for advertising in Haaretz, announced his intention to close national broadcaster Kan – a plan which was put on hold while the government focuses on the judiciary.
Meanwhile, Likud lawmaker Boaz Bismuth, who previously worked as the editor-in-chief at the pro-Netanyahu free tabloid Israel Hayom, tabled a bill, which is no longer being actively promoted, aiming to prohibit the release of a recording that includes “sensitive” or “personal” information.
This legislation would, critics contend, have a chilling effect on the ability of the media to engage in investigative journalism, not least of those in positions of power.
And despite a number of high profile physical attacks on journalists, Justice Minister Yariv Levin has said he opposed any legislation to protect journalists from assault, because “Channel 12 and 13 journalists are propagandists, worse than in totalitarian states.”
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