How Israel's Military Censorship Hides The Reality Of Iran's Retaliatory Strikes.

How Israel censors Iranian strikes on military facilities.

Strict military censorship in Israel is hiding the effectiveness of Iran’s retaliatory strikes on Israel.

The former United States Army Colonel, Lawrence Wilkerson, in an interview with Democracy Now!, argued, “the media blackout on Israel is keeping the American people from seeing the enormous degree of destruction to Israel”.

Giving an example, he cited a claimed Iranian strike on an oil refinery in Haifa, Israel in response to Israel’s bombing of oil and gas refineries in Tehran, saying, “ the latest component of which was a riposte to Israel’s having struck their oil facilities, on Haifa, their oil facility port. And Haifa is being taken down much the way Eilat was taken down by the Houthis, the Allah Ansar, in the Red Sea, when we failed to be able to reopen the Red Sea.”

How effective Iran’s retaliatory strikes on Israel are is being hidden by a strict Israeli censorship blackout on any military targets hit by Iran.

CNN wrote , “Every reporter in Israel — and every member of the public — is subject to a military censor. On national security grounds, the regulation authorizes the censor to prohibit reporting or broadcasting any material that could reveal sensitive information or pose a threat to the country’s security interests” adding, “This is particularly sensitive during wartime, where the military censor has made clear that broadcasting any images that reveal the location of interceptor missiles or military sites hit by enemy projectiles is forbidden, especially in live broadcasts.”

As journalist Juan Gonzalez noted, “they say this on their website, but they never mention this on air. And none of the networks are mentioning on air that they are strictly prohibited from showing any actual, real damage.”

An AFP article which was republished in the Israeli newspaper the Times of Israel noted, “The (Israeli) army has also banned filming impacts at or near security sites” even adding that, “Images of interceptions of incoming missiles by Israeli air defenses”, “is now forbidden”, something which raises questions about how effective Israeli intercepts are against Iranian missiles.

MIT ballistics expert Ted Postal has argued that the Israeli “intercept rate is extremely low” against Iranian missiles based on analyzing videos of intercepts.

The AFP report added, “The army has also banned filming impacts at or near security sites, although it does allow coverage of civilian damage as long as exact locations are withheld.”

Similar censorship rules were put in place during the Israeli/American bombing of Iran in June of last year.

German journalist Sophie von der Tann reporting in Israel explained at the time , “We are only allowed to film and report if civilian targets were hit, residential buildings for example. But if military or strategic targets were hit we are not allowed to film and report unless we get the approval of the (Israeli) military censor”.

She added, “The problem is that it can create the impression that only civilian and no military targets are being aimed at and hit”.

According to reporters on the ground in Israel, the censorship is even harsher this time around.

BBC Persian journalist Kasra Naji said , “The Israeli military censor has banned us from … providing live news coverage, or showing these scenes behind me when there is a strike and when the warning sirens sound. This is somewhat new, so to speak, a new directive from the Israeli military censor”.

Another Al Jazeera reporter , referring to a Hezbollah strike on central Israel, said, “The Israeli military sensor has imposed a blackout on what happened exactly with that Hezbollah barrage of rockets. It seems that that area may have some installations related to radars. We do not know. We cannot verify … we know that a blackout has been imposed, which indicates that the military sensor deems this information sensitive. Again, the control of all video material coming out being cleared for publication is in the hands of the Israeli military. Even Israeli journalists, when they publish photographs or videos, they make sure to explicitly state that it’s been cleared by the Israeli military sensor. And this has been going on since day one, since the first strike uh from Israel on Iran back on the 28th of February.”

Israel has also been harshly enforcing this military censorship.

The Committee to Protect Journalists noted that, “Israel’s Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir and Minister of Communications Shlomo Karhi announced stricter enforcement measures against foreign media during the ongoing military operation. Officials said authorities would adopt a ‘zero tolerance’ policy toward violations of military censorship rules, including detaining and arresting journalists suspected of broadcasting information that could endanger operational security.”

This has included detaining several journalists. As the CPJ documented:

CNN Türk correspondent Emrah Çakmak and camera operator Halil Kahraman were detained by Israeli security forces during a live broadcast from Tel Aviv following Iranian missile strikes on the city. A video published online shows officers halting the transmission. The journalists were taken into custody, and their phones, camera and microphone were confiscated. The journalists later told CPJ they had not regained access to their equipment at the time of reporting. Çakmak said Israeli authorities accessed his password-protected phone without his consent.

Israeli officials detained Turkish journalists İlyas Efe Ünal, the editor-in-chief of Turkish government-affiliated outlet En Son Haber, and Adem Metan while crossing from Egypt to Israel. Metan later said on social media that both journalists were released after approximately six hours of questioning.

The reason nothing is reported on Iran striking Israeli military or strategic targets is that the country has imposed a strict information blackout to make sure that information does not get out.

---

Note to readers: The Dissident is a reader-supported outlet. If you liked this article, consider becoming a paid subscriber.