Journalism in Israel

Raviv Drucker presents HaMakor's investigation into the killing of three Israeli hostages by Israeli soldiers. (Screenshot)

The farce of Israel’s ‘liberal’ investigative journalism

A recent exposé on the killing of three hostages by Israeli soldiers highlights how even critical news programs form part of an architecture of public denial.

By Sebastian Ben Daniel (John Brown) May 22, 2026

Israeli rescue and emergency forces at the scene where shrapnel from a ballistic missile fired from Iran fell in Yehud, March 9, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

‘Our coverage is not truthful’: How Israel is censoring reporting on the war

Barred from publishing details of Iranian missile impacts or interceptions, local and international journalists are struggling to tell the full story.

By Oren Ziv March 13, 2026

Israeli soldiers show an order for a closed military zone to a cameraman on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza, November 15, 2012. (by: Oren Ziv/Activesillts.org)

IDF Censor redacted 2,358 news articles last year

While the number of articles submitted to the IDF Censor decreased in 2017, the percentage of articles that it fully or partially redacted went up. Israel’s Military Censor outright prohibited the publication of 271 articles in 2017, more than five a week, and partially or fully redacted a total of 2,358 news items submitted to it…

By Haggai Matar July 4, 2018

Latest

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a speech at the World Zionist Congress, Jerusalem, October 20, 2015. (Amos Ben-Gershom/GPO)

Israeli journalists slam Netanyahu over closure of Arabic media outlets

The government shut down two Arabic-language outlets last week, leaving nearly 30 journalists jobless. The Union of Israeli Journalists: ‘Shutting down media outlets is nearly unheard of in democratic regimes.’ The Union of Journalists in Israel sent a letter to Prime Minister and Communications Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday, protesting the shutting down of two Arabic-language…

By Haggai Matar November 26, 2015

Israeli soldiers in the fifth day of the search operation walking in the West Bank city of Hebron, June 17, 2014. (Mustafa Bader/Activestills.org)

When ‘The New York Times’ embeds its reporters with the IDF

Embedded journalism is a controversial issue. Many claim that it replaces oversight and criticism with propaganda. I tend to agree. This admiring tone was evident in the pieces published by embedded Israeli reporters this week during the IDF’s crackdown on Hamas in the West Bank. It must have also been part of the reason why Haaretz chose…

By Noam Sheizaf June 24, 2014

Protest against the boycott Law, Tel Aviv, June 12 2011 (photo: Oren Ziv/activestills)

Blogger interrogated, asked to give up army source

The Israeli blogger ‘Eishton‘ has been questioned by civilian and military police in an attempt to make him reveal a whistleblower who supplied him with unclassified military documents. His interrogation has attracted media attention to the anonymous blogger and his writing. Eishton (a combination of the Hebrew words for “newspaper’ and “man”) was interrogated by…

By Haggai Matar December 21, 2012

Hundreds of "Maariv" daily newspaper employs protest against planed selling of the media group and Expected layoffs of about 300 employees or more on September 11, 2012. the workers called the management to insure their social rights. (photo: Yotam Ronen/Activestills.org)

PHOTOS: As Israeli outlets face collapse, media workers protest

Two of the three leading veteran papers in Israel are in deep trouble: Several hundreds workers of the Maariv daily – the 3rd largest in Israel – held a protest this afternoon, occasionally blocking traffic on one of Tel Aviv’s busiest highways. Maariv was reported to have been sold by its owner, business tycoon Nochi Dankner,…

By Activestills September 11, 2012

Air strike seen from Israeli Gaza border, 11/1/2009 (Photo: Oren Ziv/Activestills)

Who is behind the Eilat terror attack?

The horrific terror attacks in Oslo some weeks ago provided a valuable lesson for journalists. Almost as soon as the attacks took place, journalists throughout the world rushed to place blame on Al Qaeda. Jennifer Rubin, a conservative blogger at the Washington Post known for her extreme views on Israeli politics, wrote that the attacks…

By Joseph Dana August 19, 2011