Knesset members who led to the loosening of the gag order on the Prisoner X case got some back-up today from what could seem an unlikely source: the Chief Israel Military Censor Brig.-Gen. Sima Vaknin-Gil.
Speaking at a conference at Bar-Ilan University’s Faculty of Law, School of Communications and Center for Law, Vaknin-Gil said “as long as I am in my post, the censor will not work to shut up Knesset members.”
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console.log("catid body is "+catID);if(catID==120){document.getElementsByClassName("divConnatix")[0].style.display ="none";var script = document.createElement('script'); script.src = 'https://player.anyclip.com/anyclip-widget/lre-widget/prod/v1/src/lre.js'; script.setAttribute('pubname','jpostcom'); script.setAttribute('widgetname','0011r00001lcD1i_12258'); document.getElementsByClassName('divAnyClip')[0].appendChild(script);}else if(catID!=69 && catID!=2){ document.getElementsByClassName("divConnatix")[0].style.display ="none"; var script = document.createElement('script'); script.src = 'https://static.vidazoo.com/basev/vwpt.js'; script.setAttribute('data-widget-id','60fd6becf6393400049e6535'); document.getElementsByClassName('divVidazoo')[0].appendChild(script); }Vaknin-Gil joined a panel of journalists and academics discussing issues of military censorship and the Israeli press, with a focus on the recent case of Prisoner X, which sparked a public discussion about the role of the military censor in the internet age.
Vaknin-Gil admitted that “censorship and democracy don’t go hand in hand,” but added that “in any instance where someone is sent secretly by the state for our defense, I will not weigh the issues of freedom of information.”