Israel Matzav

Foreign reporters' vehicles may be used to ferry terrorists in Israel

I'm not shocked! I'm not shocked! I'm totally not shocked at this!

YNet is reporting this morning that foreign reporters' armored vehicles may (may?) be used to ferry terrorists to carry out terror attacks in Israel. I guess that's what happens when most of the 'accredited' foreign 'reporters' are actually 'Palestinian' stringers....

Armored vehicles that were given to foreign news agencies operating in the country with the authorization of the State of Israel, may be used by hostile groups to carry out terror attacks against Israel, Director of the Government Press Office Danny Seaman warned in a letter addressed to Shin Bet Head Yuval Diskin.

On August 27 an Israel Defense Forces helicopter hit an armored vehicle that belonged to the Reuters news agency in Gaza. According to Seaman, the incident illustrated the failures in overseeing the use of armored vehicles granted to the foreign media agencies with the permission of the State.

The vehicle's presence in Gaza in itself constituted a violation of its license terms, and moreover, the jeep was carrying only Palestinians – one with links to Hamas who was not a Reuters employee.

Licenses for armored vehicles are granted by the State to foreign news agencies in Israel for the purpose of carrying out journalistic missions in the West Bank and Gaza. The State has even agreed to extend the permits for more than the one year stipulated by the law, on the condition that the license holder is a foreign national and that he alone will drive the car.

"To the best of our knowledge, all of the vehicles' owners have been violating the conditions for a long time now, despite our requests. This is not the first time we are warning that these vehicles will be used by hostile agents to carry out a terror attack against Israel. The recent incident in Gaza only illustrates the danger," Seaman wrote the Shin Bet chief.

Maybe it's time to let the foreign press be exposed to terror just like the rest of us are? Maybe it would even influence what some of them write....

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:36 AM