Likud MKs propose law to ban filming IDF soldiers in terror hotbeds

“The difference between journalistic photography and using a camera as a tool to disrupt our soldiers is like the difference between heaven and earth,” said Im Tirtzu CEO Matan Peleg.

By World Israel News Staff

Following recent incidents in which anarchists constantly film soldiers during operational activities and try to interfere with them while soldiers are performing their duties, Likud Knesset members Miki Zohar and Eli Dalal proposed a law that would prohibit the photography of soldiers during operational activities.

According to the proposal, which was drafted with the assistance Zionist NGO Im Tirtzu’s legal department, “whoever videos or takes pictures of soldiers and members of the security forces while performing their duty, as an act of protest with the conscious intent to interfere with the performance of their mission or with the intent to undermine their spirit while performing their mission, shall be punished – imprisonment of up to five years; intent to harm in  terms of state security, his punishment is imprisonment for up to 10 years.”

Last month, a controversial video of an IDF soldier in Hebron assaulting and taunting a Palestinian was deliberately instigated, and more provocations are coming, a prominent Palestinian activist admitted in exclusive comments to Tazpit Press Service.

Im Tirtzu activists have been documenting anarchists who photograph and disturb IDF soldiers stationed in areas that are hotbeds of terrorism, like in Hebron.

Since 2005, the B’Tselem organization, which is funded by foreign countries, has been operating the “Armed with Cameras” project, in the framework of which their activists document IDF soldiers in operational positions throughout Judea and Samaria, Im Tirtzu explained in a press release Thursday.

This bill is intended to address the anarchists’ interference with the soldiers in the performance of their duties, according to the NGO.

“The immediate response to the anarchists’ war on IDF soldiers is to forbid them from taking pictures of them. In any reformed country, the camera would be confiscated, and the anarchist would be arrested. This is the way to back up our fighters,” stated Zohar.

“Our soldiers should receive our backing. No one enlists to receive harassment and bullying from anarchists. There are more than enough security threats, so it is appropriate that we minimize these attempts at friction and harassment, in accordance with the legal procedures practiced by all Western countries,” Dalal said.

Im Tirtzu CEO Matan Peleg said that “the difference between journalistic photography and using a camera as a tool to disrupt our soldiers is like the difference between heaven and earth.

“Considering this difference, it is also important that anyone who interferes knows that his action, which often endangers the safety of IDF soldiers, will carry a punishment along with it.”