Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing for criminal prosecutions of journalists who publish leaks from cabinet meetings, according to Israeli media.
Netanyahu has asked that all elements of cabinet meetings stay private and that publishing any of the details of the meetings, even those that are not defined as security-related, should be forbidden.Any cabinet meeting details not pre-approved by the censor could lead to criminal prosecution of the leaker and the journalist publishing the details.
It is expected that Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara will oppose the move, which would make the prosecution of any leakers difficult.The Knesset Speaker’s Office confirmed that a request was made to the attorney-general last month to open an investigation into the leaking of sensitive information from the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee to the media by a Knesset member.
Knesset investigation
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana ordered a probe into the leaks to determine their source, appointing an officer to investigate.
The investigating officer collected witness testimony, and accessed the security cameras in the committee’s compound, along with other evidence.
The investigation revealed that only a single Knesset member had accessed the information from the time it arrived at the committee six months ago to the inspection date. The MK accessed the information twice, close to the time it was leaked to the media.
Further inspection revealed that the MK had marked on the meeting’s notes the same parts which were eventually published. The committee director stated that the copy was the only existing one of the meeting and that the MK had received it without any markings.
“It must be remembered that on the other side sits a foreign intelligence agent gathering every detail of information in order to complete its intelligence puzzle,” the investigating officer said.
Ohana asked the attorney-general to open a criminal investigation immediately and prosecute the MK if the evidence warrants it.
“Refraining from taking all legal measures will encourage and incentivize more leaks from more meetings, something that will not only harm the security of the state but also the Knesset’s ability to maintain proper supervision of the government and its institutions – which will not, to put it mildly, share confidential information in the future,” Ohana wrote in his letter to Baharav-Miara.
Gilad Kariv identified as the leak
Israeli media identified the leaker MK as Labor MK Gilad Kariv.
“Any investigation in connection with the leakage of information from the war cabinet, an expanded cabinet, government discussions, and Knesset committees is welcome and appropriate,” Kariv said in response.
“To the extent that it is a political inspection, selective enforcement, or an inspection aimed at terrorizing members of the Knesset, it will run into the steel wall of democracy,” he said.
“I intend to contact the attorney-general with a request to start an immediate investigation of the leaks from the War Cabinet about attack plans in Lebanon and Gaza that endangered IDF soldiers, at the same time as the investigation concerning the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee. If necessary, a petition will be submitted to the High Court of Justice to order the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) to investigate the leaks that endanger the soldiers’ lives.”
The Union of Journalists criticized the plan saying “the prime minister’s proposal to allow the prosecution of journalists for legitimate press publications is a glaring warning sign on the way to a serious attack on the freedom of the press.”The union said the plan was anti-democratic and would harm press freedoms, with “no equal” in democratic countries.“If the prime minister feels that there is a problem with leaks, let him deal with the accomplices and not with the journalists who are doing their job,” the union said.