Hundreds of Israeli journalists gathered on Tuesday morning in Tel Aviv for an emergency conference, sounding the alarm as the government continues to advance initiatives that threaten the country’s freedom of speech and press.
Hundreds of Israeli journalists gathered on Tuesday morning in Tel Aviv for an emergency conference, sounding the alarm as the government continues to advance initiatives that threaten the country’s freedom of speech and press.
The conference – ‘Without Free Media, There is No Democracy’ – was organised by the Union of Journalists in Israel and the Israel Press Council, which represent Israeli broadcast and print journalists.
It focused on the threats that current legislation and government decisions pose to the freedom of Israeli news outlets, rather than on the restrictions facing foreign media under laws like the Al Jazeera law or Israel’s refusal to allow journalists into Gaza. Participants included writers, editors, producers and other staff from a range of Israeli news organisations.
It comes amid two major government attempts to limit the free press, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The first is Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi’s far-reaching Broadcast Law, which seeks to replace the state’s regulation mechanisms with a government-appointed authority and allow for increased commercial and political influence over news networks.
In addition, the government is attempting to shutter or privatise two news outlets that are state-funded but produce independent content: Army Radio, which is run by the military, and the Kan public broadcaster. Speakers noted that these laws go hand-in-hand with the coalition’s push to weaken the judiciary and other systems of checks and balances on the government.
On Monday, a short video produced by the Union of Journalists in Israel to promote the event was deemed unfit for broadcast and taken off the air by the government-run Israel Television and Radio Authority, which claimed that it was “controversial.” It showed empty Israeli news studios turning off their lights, before the slogan “Without free media, there is no democracy” appeared on the screen.
“Sadly, we haven’t gathered here today to support any specific outlet or condemn any individual attack, but rather [to warn about] a process with a clear goal: to weaken the free media in Israel,” said Channel 12 journalist Yuna Leibzon, who officiated the conference at the Tzavta Theater in Tel Aviv.
Retired Supreme Court Justice Hanan Melcer, who also serves as president of the Israel Press Council, said that the government is trying to make the news media, both public and private, reliant on its own goodwill. The bills it is advancing are “based on examples taken from Hungary, Turkey and people’s republics, such as North Korea and China.
“If these initiatives succeed,” he continued, “we can no longer take pride in being the only democracy in the Middle East.”
Melcer went on to say that the Israel Press Council and similar bodies have petitioned the Supreme Court twice already against the laws to overhaul the media, and will continue to do so if they advance. They will also file other suits to compel the government to explain why it is not following the counsel of the attorney general and the Knesset legal adviser, who have expressed concern about these bills.
Haim Har-Zahav, the chairman of the Union of Journalists, discussed the incitement and attacks against journalists from far-right activists. Those that attack them may be a fringe minority, but they receive a tailwind, he said, “from the government and its leader.
“It’s not just that they (the government) don’t do anything to stop this phenomenon,” Har-Zahav added, “they have all sorts of Idit Silmans and Amichay Eliyahus and their ilk who even write posts supporting the criminals.” Har-Zahav was referring to far-right Knesset members who have made harsh statements about the media.
The most prominent example of incitement against a media figure is the case of Channel 12 News journalist Guy Peleg, who has been reporting on the alleged IDF abuse of prisoners at the Sde Teiman detention facility. Last month, he was assigned an armed guard after attacks and threats from right-wing activists, media figures and politicians.
“This government,” Har-Zahav said, “doesn’t love the truth.” Nobody liked negative criticism, he added, “but instead of improving … this government is deciding on a different solution: silencing, shutting people up, drafting laws that shut down media outlets.”
Sivan Klingbail, the editor-in-chief of Haaretz’s business newspaper The Marker, said that although trust in the media is low, trust in the government is even lower. “All of this [the proposed laws] is part of a combined effort whose goal is to reduce the criticism of the government and its leader – and the efficacy of that criticism.
“This is just one aspect of freedom of speech,” she continued, “but there are many others under threat in Israeli society.
“Freedom of speech and the freedom of expressing an opinion counter to that of the government is shrinking. Protesters are being arrested, and there is a reduction in the freedom of demonstration.”
Galit Hemi, editor-in-chief of Calcalist, said that journalists can no longer “play pretend” when it comes to this government, and must take action. “We must make our voices heard outside of this auditorium – we need to go to Knesset hearings and make our voices heard, go to the international media, meet with international leaders, and tell everyone, in our voices, what is going on here.”
Veteran investigative journalist Ilana Dayan said, “he who doesn’t want a state commission of inquiry [into 7 October] doesn’t want to know the truth about the war. He who doesn’t want to know the truth, also doesn’t want a free press that will seek it out.
“For the first time in my life, I’m afraid for this place, for this future, and for its values,” she added. “We’ve seen these movies before, but nothing like this horror film.”
Prominent journalist and Israel Prize winner Nahum Barnea was the final speaker. “The destruction of freedom of press in Israel is already here,” he said. “Sadly, we’ve contributed quite a bit to the rise of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and other far-right political figures. They were always good copy.
“I’m not saying we should stop reporting on them – but I suggest we should stop embracing them … by representing them in satire. Those who laugh at them normalise them. Those who normalise them promote their actions.”
In closing, he said, “I’m not sure that together, we will win,” echoing the slogan of unity the country adopted after 7 October. “I do know that alone, we’ll lose.”
Republished from Hareetz, 9 December 2025
