Police halted the broadcast of several foreign news agencies reporting from missile impact sites this morning.

The agencies’ footage — which police say revealed “precise locations” — was apparently being used by the Al Jazeera news network, banned in Israel since last summer.

A spokesman for police says patrol units were dispatched to take action “against news agencies utilized by Al Jazeera to transmit unauthorized and unlawful content.”

In footage of the police action shared by the National Security Ministry, an officer is seen ordering a cameraman to hand over his recording device.

The cameraman resists and can be heard saying to him in Hebrew: “They are seeing you on CNN, seeing you on BBC, seeing you all over the world, so calm down for a second.” The cameraman requests that the officer talk to the police spokesman, and adds that he can’t help it if other channels are using his broadcast.

The decision was made “in accordance with the policy of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and under the directive of Police Commissioner Danny Levy,” says a police spokesman.

Earlier this week, police raided the offices of foreign TV crews after they broadcast missile impacts in the Haifa area, where barrages had targeted sensitive facilities.

Ben Gvir has pledged to crack down on foreign media broadcasting the locations of missile impacts.

“Broadcasts that show exactly where the missiles land on the State of Israel are a danger to state security,” he said from a missile impact site in Petah Tikva on Tuesday. “I expect that anyone who does this be treated as someone who harms state security.”

Israeli authorities have sought to limit information on impact locations they argue can be used by Iran to better calibrate its missiles.

  • tal
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    1 day ago

    Probably because it provides a battle damage assessment.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bomb_damage_assessment

    Bomb damage assessment (BDA), also known as battle damage assessment, is the practice of assessing damage inflicted on a target from a stand-off weapon, most typically a bomb or air launched missile. It is part of the larger discipline of combat assessment. Assessment is performed using many techniques including footage from in-weapon cameras, gun cameras, forces on the ground near the target, satellite imagery and follow-up visits to the target. Preventing information on battle damage reaching the enemy is a key objective of military censorship.

    • CM400@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Sorry, I should have been more clear…

      The article made it sound like he was broadcasting from a missile impact site, condemning those that broadcast those impact sites.