In a step aimed at covering up Israeli crimes MK Robert Ilatov (Yisrael Beytenu) has called for introducing a new bill punishing anyone who photograph or videorecord soldiers while performing their duties in order to undermine their morale.
He made his proposal after a video went viral on the internet showing an Israeli soldier shooting at a Palestinian on Gaza border as other follow soldiers were verbally attacking other protesters.
According to the Hebrew newspaper Israel Hayom the proposed bill calls for imposing a five-year prison punishment on anyone exposing on-duty soldiers’ behavior.
It also calls for jailing for 10 years anyone who does so with the intention of harming Israel’s national security.
The proposed bill mentions NGOs such as B’Tselem Machsom Watch and Breaking the Silence calling them “anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian…and BDS organizations.”
It claims that “for many years there has been a disturbing phenomenon in Israel of documenting soldiers through videos stills and voice recordings” and that some NGOs have people follow soldiers all day long to try to “document them in a biased and slanted way… while sometimes accusing and insulting them.”
Ilatov said the time came to put an end to what he called “anarchy.” “It cannot be that any left-wing activist or organization supported by foreign entities can get free access and document undisturbed soldiers on duty.”
“We have the responsibility to give soldiers the optimal conditions to do their jobs without them having to be worried about a left-wing activist or organization sending out their photo and trying to shame them.”
