Defense officials over the weekend lambasted Israel's three major news channels for their coverage of the April 7 terrorist attack in Tel Aviv, saying that the uncensored images of elite Israeli troops compromise security forces.
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During the almost nine-hour-long manhunt for the gunman, TV news crews at the scene moved along with troops – elite forces from the IDF's top commando units, the Israel Police Counterterrorism units, and Shin Bet agents – as they searched the area for the terrorist, broadcasting the live images that exposed commandos' faces, tactical weapons, and classified equipment and counterterrorism measures.
Such images are classified and are routinely redacted by the Military Censor from any visual material used by the media to protect the troops and impeded the enemy's intelligence gathering efforts.
Thursday's telecasts inflicted harm to national security, one defense official told Israel Hayom.
"When you show images of soldiers loading weapons and deploying the equipment they have – these things are so classified that there are soldiers in special forces units that don't know what other soldiers in special forces units use. This is all a well-kept secret and all of a sudden, it's on TV, for all to see," he said.
"You could see the faces of IDF commandos and Shin Bet agents; officers; their tactical vehicles - it's outrageous. The enemy is watching and these units will now have to implement rapid changes" in tactics, added.
Other defense officials were also vexed by what they called the "security failure," saying that the police and IDF should have also deployed information security officers to control the media's intervention in the chaotic scene.
In a joint statement released on Friday, the police, military, and Israel Security Agency strongly criticized media outlets for their "sensationalistic coverage" of the shooting.
"Some of the media channels turned the manhunt for the terrorist into an uncensored reality show devoid of any self-control. We were exposed to footage that constitutes a tangible risk to security forces, and certainly to media figures as well."
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Lt. Col. (Res.) Jonathan Conricus, a former international spokesperson for Israel's army, said that media outlets need to find a balance when covering a sensitive event
"I can understand why correspondents on the ground want to show reality as it happens, but at the end of the day, what we have here is a terrorist attack and an attacker who probably hoped exactly for this to happen. For his brutal murder … to terrorize as many Israelis as possible," he said.
He urged media correspondents that, while it is their job to cover events, they should "mitigate the situation and not give free airtime for terrorists. …"It affects the sense of security of Israeli civilians and amplifies terror."
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
