Israeli authorities gag journalists over Jerusalem shooting

Forty-eight hours after a fatal shooting near Sheikh Jarrah in occupied East Jerusalem, the Israeli media is still prevented from revealing the identity of the assailant, 40-year-old Palestinian Misbah Abu Sbeih.

Israeli authorities imposed a gag order almost immediately after the attack, with police informing journalists that they were prohibited from publishing “all details of the investigation, the names of the injured, the names of the dead and the name of the terrorist”.

Yet even as the 30-day gag order was being imposed, Abu Sbeih’s name was all over social media, initially from Palestinian sources, and then later in the international media.

In addition to the gag order, requested by the police and received from a Jerusalem district court, authorities also warned reporters that “anyone who breaks this order should expect a lawsuit.”

It is not known why the order has been put in place.

In May, it was reported that the number of gag orders issued in Israel over the last 15 years has more than tripled, though precise numbers are hard to come by since no state body monitors them.

In addition, in an entirely separate mechanism, since 2011 the Israeli military censor has banned the publication of 1,936 articles and redacted some information from a further 14,196 articles.