Unfortunately or fortunately, leaks are a routine matter in a modern democratic country, whether they are criminal, governmental, or security leaks. It happens in Israel and in every other democratic country in the world, and for better or worse, in the State of Israel, leaks to the country and abroad, especially on security issues, are a matter on which entire careers of journalists are built.
So why does the Israeli media, which has been eerily silent for over a year about the imposition of a complete and comprehensive publication ban on one of the allegedly most serious cases in Israeli security history at the most difficult moment in the country's history, turn a temporary publication ban into a routine event for a "dramatic security case"?
Whether the alleged leak occurred as claimed in those hasty publications is irrelevant. Political and security leaks are a routine matter. Anyone who thinks that the New York Times and the Washington Post know exactly when, at what angle, and with how many planes we attacked a specific target, or with how many tons of bombs we miraculously eliminated Nasrallah, is mistaken.
Security agencies in Israel are also involved in serial leaks, some of which are intended to convey messages to enemies or allies through unofficial channels, some of which are even approved by senior political officials, but some are also for the promotion of personal goals or beliefs.
My inquiry does not concern the Israeli or international leak industry if the subject has come up. My wonder is how a media that sits in silence while one of the most dramatic security affairs is rotting and dissolving before our eyes under a publication ban and an urgent determination of "insanity" through a Zoom discussion, can sincerely demand that we take a trivial leak from one office or another of one document or another seriously.
How the media, which has been silent for over a year, despite all the flashing red lights and concerns about the depth of the discussed security affair and its impact on the war we are currently in, suddenly runs and rushes between the studio and the courthouse, demanding loudly the lifting of publication bans and a thorough investigation.
Moreover, how can the Israeli media, which for years has been fed by much more destructive and dangerous leaks, dare to turn its face away from other leaks? How can a media outlet that just a few months ago presented the world with a distorted and biased video and spread claims of soldiers raping Palestinian prisoners like wildfire muster the audacity to stir up a storm over one leak or another?
Unfortunately, the Israeli media is failing in its duty today, as it has on many other days. The media in Israel chooses to use its public power not as a shield for the citizens, but as a sword for interest groups. The cynical use that the media allows to be made of it, all for another headline that will be forgotten in two days, lowers its already low status and diminishes the trust in it, which is already thin.
