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Israeli bill forbids documentation of IDF abuses

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman claims an Israeli bill criminalizing the filming of Israeli soldiers is meant to protect them from harm, but human rights workers point out that it will also shield them from prosecution.
A Palestinian man stands in front of Israeli soldiers near the scene of attempted car ramming attack, in Hebron in the occupied West Bank June 2, 2018. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma - RC1F06CFB530
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The Israeli ministerial committee on legislation approved a bill criminalizing the filming of Israeli soldiers in the West Bank June 17. Proponents of the legislation, introduced by Knesset member Robert Ilatov of Yisrael Beitenu, argue that it is designed to protect soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces operating alongside Palestinian residents, or as Ilatov himself phrased it, to prevent “filming meant to undermine the spirit of the IDF soldiers [and of] residents of the State of Israel or to damage state security.” The version of the bill approved by the ministerial committee imposes jail terms of five to 10 years on violators.

The center-right Kulanu of Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, considered the government coalition’s liberal standard-bearer, supports the bill. Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit informed the ministers prior to their vote that he opposes the law because it is unconstitutional. Nonetheless, the ministers gave Ilatov the green light to present the bill for an initial vote by the Knesset plenum on June 20, with a promise that its language would be amended before it comes up for further approval to satisfy Mandelbilt's reservations. However, even if changes are introduced along the way, the bill’s authors clearly have one goal in mind: to conceal the goings-on in West Bank areas from the Israeli and international public.

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