Controlling information has always been key to maintaining an apartheid regime — and Israel’s new far-right government knows this well. The first bill to be brought to the Knesset floor by the Otzma Yehudit (“Jewish Power”) party, led by incoming National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, seeks to impose a three-year prison sentence on “those who disturb a soldier while he is performing his duties.”

The law is explicitly aimed at activists who document Israeli soldiers in the occupied territories and share that documentation online. These images are rarely if ever flattering to the army, leading the authorities to attack and sometimes even lock up those who dare to show it in all its ugliness.

For decades, Israel has invested massive resources in hiding its crimes while threatening those trying to expose them — be they local residents, activists, human rights groups, or journalists. To further obscure reality, Israel has manufactured an ecosystem of lies and distorted truths about itself and the Palestinians it rules over, a process that works at a dizzying speed and alarming scale. Otzma Yehudit’s proposed law, among others, is part of this larger effort.

Will you help us disrupt this process? Your monthly support will enable +972 to defy the policies of erasure and disinformation, and to expose the true reality between the river and the sea. Join us now, and in the holiday spirit, help us bring light into the darkness. 

The attack on truth in Israel is multi-pronged, multi-layered, and extremely powerful. We are operating in a place where left-wing activists are called traitors by right-wing politicians; where Palestinians whose homes are systematically destroyed are called criminals; where every Palestinian shot dead by soldiers is automatically called a terrorist, with no Israeli mainstream outlet demanding proof for such a charge; and where violent assaults by armed Israeli settlers is justified as self-defense, while Palestinians throwing stones are engaging in nationalist or racist violence, devoid of context.

We at +972 don’t see ourselves as neutral reporters of this reality, but rather as actively aligned with those who seek to change it and how we talk about it. And with the ascent of open and unapologetic fascism, we stand at the precipice of one of the most difficult and dangerous political eras we have ever known here in Israel-Palestine.

Today, in the face of an intensifying war against truth and those who dare to speak it, we need your support. +972 is nonprofit, independent journalism — exactly the light we need in the darkness that is descending upon us. You can become a member and support with tax deductible monthly contributions, and help us offer hope of a better future. Can we count on you?

Join +972 as a member today to make sure we succeed. Contributions can be made tax deductible in the U.S. or you can Gift Aid them in the U.K. (For either of these options, please make sure you’ve checked the box for monthly contributions).

With best wishes for a joyful holiday season and for a new year with more justice and hope,
Orly Noy
+972 writer