Did a Channel 14 reporter give away IDF’s location to enemies before an operation?

Channel 14's Hallel Bitton Rosen faces allegations of revealing IDF movements in Jenin prematurely. Uncover the timeline and the controversy surrounding his social media post.

 IDF soldiers operate in Jenin, the West Bank, August 6, 2024. (photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)
IDF soldiers operate in Jenin, the West Bank, August 6, 2024.
(photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

Channel 14 military and political correspondent Hallel Bitton Rosen may have accidentally given away IDF soldiers’ location before they began an operation in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.

“Our fighters have now started operating in the Jenin camp to thwart terrorism,” Rosen posted on X (formerly Twitter) at 4:03 p.m. on Monday afternoon.

However, according to KAN News legal correspondent Avishai Grinzaig, a representative of Israel’s security forces told him that the Israeli forces were not exposed until 4:17 p.m.

However, according to the security official, the sirens “began to sound in Jenin at 4:13 p.m.”

Rosen denied the suggestion that he, in his report, alerted Palestinian officials, saying, “It's a shame that those who brief…reporters to harm me deceive them and make them come off as ridiculous, again and again. Below is the Arab report on the activities of our fighters a few minutes before my report.”

 Palestinians walk, in Jenin, the West Bank, May 21, 2024. (credit: REUTERS/RANEEN SAWAFTA)
Palestinians walk, in Jenin, the West Bank, May 21, 2024. (credit: REUTERS/RANEEN SAWAFTA)

Indeed, he shared a screenshot from a Telegram group of local Palestinian news that reports, among other locations, from Jenin. The message there was sent Monday at 3:58 p.m.

Grinzaig's response

Grinzaig, in response, asked if Rosen “seriously doesn’t understand the difference between “a message written in a local Palestinian Telegram group and a publication by an Israeli military correspondent,” then asked about the exact timeline of events.

“Did [you] request, as the law requires, the approval of the censor before publishing about the activities of the IDF forces in Jenin?” He added.

The IDF has not responded to The Jerusalem Post's request for comment at this time.