If the Israeli government were a secret agent for the Iranians, on a mission to cause as much reputational damage to the country as possible, it might explain the 'transmitter from Sderot' affair. The bungled move to confiscate video equipment from the AP news agency included a blatant lie, a simple truth, and a ridiculous act of thuggery

It’s true that AP (where I previously served as editor-in-chief for Europe, Africa, and the Middle East) indeed provided video transmission from a balcony in Sderot to the Al Jazeera network, along with hundreds of other clients worldwide, after Israel banned the Qatari network's operations within its territory.

The lie was that the video endangered Israeli soldiers. If this were true, Israel has a variety of means to address the issue — from military censorship to preventing physical access to any strategic balcony. This accusation, the result of amateurish confusion in messaging, was not accompanied by evidence, was stated half-heartedly, and disappeared as quickly as it came, leaving behind only the aforementioned truth. If there was any 'danger' in the broadcast, it is no less dangerous on Fox or Channel 14

The ridiculous act of thuggery was the confiscation of filming equipment (including an actual camera!). It seems that the 'Communications Minister' Shlomo Karhi, the extreme religious fanatic who allegedly ordered the operation, did not know that AP has plenty of spare cameras.

Hours later, Karhi backed down after the White House expressed anger and Netanyahu's office distanced itself from the incident. This is what the entire government looks like: cheap populists, not thinking one step ahead, eating the rotten fish, then being chased out of town covered in tar and feathers — and still, Al Jazeera is broadcasting the same transmissions that Netanyahu's government claims endanger national security.

What, after all, was achieved by the Al Jazeera Law, which allows authorities to shut down the operations in Israel of foreign media outlets deemed to harm 'national security'? It is hard to overstate the futility of the actions taken against the Qatari network, including a somewhat comical raid on its office in Jerusalem. Equipment was confiscated there as well, despite the fact that nowadays any child can broadcast to CNN in decent quality from a regular mobile phone.

The government did not thereby prevent the network from spreading anti-Israeli propaganda from its studio in Doha, or from interviewing people in Israel via video (as I myself have done more than once), or from operating as usual in the West Bank and Gaza (which are not Israeli territory). The only thing the law prevented was reporting from official Israeli sources, something Al Jazeera did occasionally and that an intelligent Israeli should have encouraged.

We gained nothing from it, but we also lost. On the cost side, the whole affair further tarnishes Israel's reputation by joining the dubious club of countries attempting to disrupt coverage (and generally harm foreign organizations of all kinds) with baseless national security claims uttered by incompetent commissioners. It's a step away from this approach to condemning journalists as 'enemies of the people'. These are the domains of Putin, Mussolini, and North Korea. Even Donald Trump, it must be acknowledged.

Perhaps Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government doesn't care much for democracy — just a year ago, they tried to undermine judicial independence. But it's worth noting that the average Israeli should wake up: on this downhill slope, they'll encounter reduced foreign investments, lowered credit ratings, visa travel restrictions, trade decline, and so on. It won't pay off

And although the world might somehow understand a move against Al Jazeera given its coverage, the action against AP is outright absurd. It's unreasonable to expect AP to restrict a service it's committed to providing to paying clients just because Israel dislikes certain coverage. AP wouldn't censor Channel 12 in Iraq over some law either. There's also nothing clear in the law that allows for this — especially when the servers and systems are not even in Israel. One could easily access AP's YouTube channel if desired. The whole story is anachronistic. The entire approach is infantile.

Now Karhi promises an investigation, which is yet another blatant lie. It will be interesting to see if the government quietly backs down from the issue or continues to shoot itself in the foot,

In Israel, there are those who fear that AP's coverage itself may now become unfriendly as a result of such retaliatory actions—and the answer is complex. There is a bit of misunderstanding here about how serious journalism operates; it is not engaged in acts of revenge. The truth is both more delicate and more destructive: continuing this behavior will simply cause the media to stop treating the country as a developed democracy. This would lead to maximum skepticism towards its leaders, officials, spokespersons, and even its soldiers. No one believes in Putin, nor in Erdogan to that extent

A similar indifference to reputational damage was also observed in the destruction of the office tower in Gaza in 2021, which housed AP and other media outlets. This action was also carried out during Netanyahu's tenure, albeit in a slightly less extreme manner. The belated and unconvincing explanation provided was that Hamas operated within the building; however, Hamas operates throughout the strip, so a bit more persuasion would be needed if you intend to convince. The fact that Israel appeared so indifferent to the damage to its own reputation was perceived by the media as strong evidence of a very light trigger finger. This also affects the coverage.

The current Netanyahu government, despite particularly targeting the media and essentially most of the world (and it's mutual), is not the first to handle journalists poorly. During the Second Intifada, when I was the chairman of the Foreign Press Association in Israel and the Territories, the government press office stopped issuing official press credentials to Palestinians, even though the army in the West Bank and Gaza still demanded them. Israel also restricted Israeli journalists' access to Palestinian areas and took steps to limit foreign video photographers' ability to obtain work permits — a clear attempt to interfere with coverage from the Palestinian perspective.

One of AP's Palestinian photographers was arrested at the time for working without a permit. For weeks, he was held in a detention facility by the Shin Bet without seeing a lawyer or even being formally investigated. Ultimately, I met with Avi Dichter, who was then head of the Shin Bet, to request his release. I told Dichter that the oppressive treatment of our employee provided us with a direct insight into how Palestinians experience Israeli authority, which rightly influences our reporting. Greater trust can be placed in Palestinian suffering narratives. I offered Dichter some free advice: it would be wiser to try to influence us by granting excellent treatment to the detained employee.

The photographer was released the next day. It was evidence that even under Ariel Sharon's government, there was still a trace of intelligence. Now, there isn't even a trace. The shutdown of the broadcast in Sderot may seem like a small story about a foolish step taken by unwise people. In my eyes, it represents something much larger: a national emergency.