Dozens of criminal complaints have been filed against Israeli soldiers by pro-Palestine groups in courts around the world
The Israeli army has issued fresh restrictions against media coverage of active-duty soldiers due to legal risks they face over war crimes in Gaza while traveling abroad, coming after a swarm of criminal complaints filed by pro-Palestine groups in courts worldwide.
The new rules stipulate that any media outlets interviewing soldiers with the rank of colonel will not be permitted to display their faces or full names, similar to the already existing rules for air force pilots and members of special forces units, Israeli army spokesman Nadav Shoshani told reporters on 8 January.
“This is our new guideline to protect our soldiers and to make sure they are safe from these types of incidents hosted by anti-Israel activists around the world,” he said.
He also said soldiers were not supposed to upload videos of themselves in warzones in the first place, “even though that’s never perfect and we have a large army.”
According to recent reports in Hebrew media, at least 50 criminal complaints in courts around the world have targeted Israeli soldiers for their role in Tel Aviv's ethnic cleansing campaign in Gaza.
Over the weekend, a Brazilian federal court ordered the police to open an immediate investigation into an Israeli soldier accused of committing war crimes in Gaza. The soldier was visiting Brazil for a vacation.
The soldier – who was seen in videos participating in the destruction of civilian infrastructure in Gaza – arrived in Israel on Wednesday morning after fleeing Brazil with the help of the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
Upon arrival at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, the soldier told Channel 12 that he had learned from his error and would no longer upload videos from Gaza. “I won’t go back to Brazil again,” he added. (more...)
Israel imposes sweeping restrictions to 'protect soldiers' from war crimes prosecution
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