Not sure if this has been discussed but I am curious for a response from those supporting Israel’s tactics in Gaza. They claim that they are banning all reporters for “military reasons” and to protect the safety of reporters but can you defend the lack of freedom of access to information.
Also, if the U.S had banned all reporters from Iraq, would you have supported that policy?
It seems, even some reporters in Israel are disturbed.
I don’t have any inside knowledge, but I can think of two potential problems that the presence of the media could present for the Israeli military. First, they would have to be added to the list of civilians that the military would have to avoid, creating further headaches for the process of targeting the enemy while trying to avoid civilian casualties. But an even more obvious problem, it seems to me, is that the reporters could be seized by Hamas and used as shields for their own military facilities, make it impossible to attack the latter without raising an even greater international outcry.
Once again, we have to remember that it’s asymmetrical warfare.
First, they would have to be added to the list of civilians that the military would have to avoid, creating further headaches for the process of targeting the enemy while trying to avoid civilian casualties. But an even more obvious problem, it seems to me, is that the reporters could be seized by Hamas and used as shields for their own military facilities, make it impossible to attack the latter without raising an even greater international outcry.
I don’t think Israel is doing this to protect the reporters, do you?
Also, they let reporters into Lebanon last year so this appears to be a new policy.
“I don’t think Israel is doing this to protect the reporters, do you?”
That could be a third factor, but that’s not what I said. I suggested that they could be doing this to protect themselves from having to limit further their military options in order to avoid inadvertently harming reporters.
I’m merely looking for the simplest explanation that fits the facts, including what is already known about the character of the parties involved. William of Ockham never suggested that we should ignore what is already known.
"Also, they let reporters into Lebanon last year so this appears to be a new policy. "
Did Israel really have control over reporters entering Lebanon, a sovereign nation?
I also seem to remember pretty restrictive rules put on reporters in Iraq, keeping most of them in the Green Zone.
Bottom line is, sure they could be doing this to prevent reporters from seeing bad stuff. But they could just as easily be doing it to protect reporters from being harmed or taken hostage by Hamas, from being harmed or killed as colateral damage by Israeli attacks, or to prevent security issues like Geraldo’s map in the sand that could give away troop movements.
What difference would it make if reporters were allowed in other then there would now be more dead reporters? Will the killings stop? Will peace suddenly be achieved? It’s nonsensical to think that the actions of anyone can make a difference there. You want to end the fighting, then start with an end to arm sales…
“The United States is the overall top supplier of weapons. The United States is also the top supplier of weapons to the developing world, accounting for around 36% of worldwide weapons sales, followed by Russia, Britain, Germany and China.”
But this will never happen because by selling arms we make $$$, get our armories tested under battle conditions, and promote our own twisted ideologies where “we” are always right and “they” are always wrong.
With over 1000 dead and 5000 injured, Israel is losing world opinion already in this conflict. They’d be shooting themselves in the foot even more if western reporters were allowed in to see the civilian causalties.
I don’t understand the restrictions on reporters however
Probably because they have nothing to gain by allowing reporters in and much to lose. They will get no sympathetic coverage, and getting a reporter injured, killed, taken hostage just exacerbates an already bad situation. Much like Iraq you’ll only get the stuff that sells papers, not anything good. Of course not much good is happening right now.