ACRI to Government Press Office: “Retract Warning to Foreign Journalists Boarding Flotilla to Gaza”

"Freedom of press" CC by Krossbow via Flickr

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) urged the Director of the Israeli Government Press Office to retract statements he had made earlier today, claiming that foreign journalists wishing to board the ships of the Gaza-bound flotilla will be viewed as deliberately violating the Israeli law, and such actions may result in the confiscation of equipment and a prohibition to enter Israel for the duration of up to ten years.
 
In the letter, ACRI Attorney Oded Feller states that such claims are legally baseless and stand in clear controdiction to the role of journalists in a free society and the responsibility of the Government Press Office to maintain freedom of press, concluding: “Should the Israeli authorities decide to drag ships into Israel’s borders, and as a result will bring into Israel those present on those ships, it may not be claimed that they had entered the country illegally.”
 
The full letter (translated to from Hebrew):
 
26 June 2011
 
To: Mr. Oren Helman
Director
Government Press Office
Israel
 
Re: Warning foreign journalists against covering the flotilla to Gaza
 
Today you were quoted in the Israeli press warning foreign journalists against providing media coverage of the flotilla planed to set out for the Gaza Strip, stating that covering the event from the ships themselves may bring about sanctions including the confiscation of equipment and a prohibition to enter Israel for the duration of up to ten years.
 
According to the Israeli media you suggested that foreign journalists cover this event from the Ashdod Port, where it is likely that representatives of various Israeli authorities will be present as past experience has shown that Israel intends to drag the ships to that port.
 
You added that covering the event from the ships themselves would be considered “a deliberate violation of the Israeli law”, stating that it is “vital that foreign journalists know the repercussions those who enter Israeli illegally may face”.
 
These statements are groundless and we therefore urge you to retract them.
 
The Government Press Office is responsible for maintaining the public interest of “a free press and open press coverage. This is not the sole interest of the journalists, the TV and radio stations, the newspapers and the wires agencies. Rather, this is a general public interest that serves – in addition to those wishing to express themselves – also the unraveling of the truth, the democratic process and social stability” (High Court of Justice, case 5627/02, Saif v. Government Press Office).
 
Media coverage of the flotilla by journalists present on the ships does not violate Israeli law. In fact, there is no clause within our books of law that forbids this kind of media work. On the contrary, it is the clear interest of the public that its press is free and provides open, extensive and full coverage of this event, in all its unfolding stages, and in any of the locations where it will take place. As much as it is important to have media coverage of events taking place at the Ashdod Port, it is equally important to provide coverage of events taking place on the ships. It would be wrong to claim that a journalist covering events at the Ashdod Port should be viewed as taking part in the activities of the Israeli authorities. Similarly, it would be wrong to claim that a journalist covering events from the flotilla’s ships should be viewed as if he or she were taking part in the activities of the flotilla. Journalists, by nature, do not take part in activities but rather cover them.
 
Another claim you had made which is baseless is that journalists who cover the flotilla while on the ships will be entering Israel illegally. Those journalists will be carrying out their work outside of Israel’s territorial waters. Should the Israeli authorities decide to drag ships into Israel’s borders, and as a result will bring into Israel those present on those ships, it may not be claimed that they had entered the country illegally. In other words, there is no fair argument in the position that a person who was dragged from the sea into Israel is an illegal alien on the grounds that Israel, taking action and bringing him in, did not provide him beforehand with the necessary entry visa.
 
Sincerely,
 
Attorney Oded Feller
Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI)