Leading Israeli editors reacted bitterly against a new regulation approved by the Cabinet today which would make reporters liable to severe prison terms for publishing information classified as secret. The measure, based on the 1957 Espionage Law, is intended to plug leaks of classified information from Cabinet sessions and other high level sources that have plagued Israeli leaders for many years and recently caused severe embarrassment to Premier Yitzhak Rabin.
Moshe Zak, a senior editor of Maariv, Israel’s largest daily, called the measure “most serious” and charged that it marked the beginning of political censorship. Zak, who is vice-chairman of the Press Council, said he would no longer be able to claim to friends abroad that Israel’s press was free of political censorship. Zak’s views were shared by many other prominent Israeli Journalists.
The measure, which must be approved by the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, was endorsed by the full Cabinet with one abstention. It bars publication, without prior government approval, of two types of information: communications between the Israeli government and other governments that are classified “top secret”; and secret meetings between Israeli officials and officials of countries with which Israel does not have formal diplomatic relations. That category, at present, embraces more than half the nations of the world.
LEAKS THAT SPARKED THE MOVE
Although official concern over Cabinet leaks to the press has been mounting since the administration of former Premier Golda Meir, the problem seemed insoluable. Minister Gideon Hausner recently suggested that all ministers and others privy to Cabinet deliberations be required to take lie-detector tests to uncover the source of the leaks. Rabin rejected the idea but he has been seriously disturbed by recent leaks.
One was the Maariv report that President Ford had sent Rabin an angry personal message deploring the government’s decision to establish four new settlements on the Golan Heights. Another was a report in Yediot Achronot of a secret meeting in Europe between Foreign Minister Yigal Allon and an African diplomat, believed to have been either the President or Foreign Minister of Zaire.
Israeli political correspondents reportedly proposed to Rabin recently that they voluntarily refrain from publishing such reports. Newspaper editors, however, refused to accept such curbs, even if voluntary, Rabin then invoked the 1957 Espionage Act which permits the government to expand the list of secret information, the publication of which is a criminal offense.
UP TO 15 YEARS IN PRISON
If the measure is approved by the Knesset committee a minister or government official who leaks secret information would face a sentence of up to 15 years’ imprisonment. A reporter publishing the information would be subject to imprisonment for up to seven years. In practical terms, the measure means that newspapers will have to submit classified information to the government censor for approval prior to publication. The Premier or Foreign Minister or persons acting in their behalf would be allowed to authorize publication on an individual basis.
Newspaper circles criticized the Premier tonight for allegedly reneging on a promise not to draft censorship measures without consulting the editors’ committee. “He pulled a fast one on the press.” one Journalist remarked.
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