Israel Falls Near Bottom Of Press Freedom Rankings
The Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index for 2013 has ranked Israel No. 112 out of 179 countries – a plunge of 20 spots from the 2012 index and the lowest ranking the organization has ever given Israel.
The plunge in the index is due to “Israel’s conduct in Operation Pillar of Defense in November of 2012, when the Israel Defense Forces intentionally attacked journalists and buildings where media connected to Hamas had premises,” and that Palestinian journalists are still arrested, according to the organization. As for what is happening inside Israel, it says “reporters in Israel enjoy freedom of speech, but the military censor continues to be a structural problem.”
Until this year, Reporters Without Borders gave separate rankings to Israel inside the Green Line (pre-1967 borders) and to the occupied territories. While Israel inside the Green Line was ranked relatively high (up to 40th place), Israel beyond the Green Line was ranked 150th. The combination of the categories helps explain why Israel was ranked so low this year. Palestine, which is also ranked separately, moved up three places from last year, but remains low on the list, at number 146.
Israel has seen its ranking plummet before, notably after Operation Cast Lead in 2009. The explanatory material for the 2009 index noted that during the course of the operation, five members of the media were arrested, some of them illegally. In addition, there were three incidents of media crews being detained. As a result of the operation, 20 members of the media were injured and three journalists were killed.
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