Israeli Military Implements New Media Rules Following War Crime Allegations

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have announced strict new media engagement guidelines for its personnel, prompted by a recent incident in Brazil involving war crime allegations against a former soldier, CNN reports.

The measures, announced Wednesday, mandate significant anonymity for most soldiers, both active and reserve.

Under the new rules, soldiers at the rank of colonel and below can only be filmed from behind, with their faces obscured, and only their first initial can be used when identified. Military personnel holding foreign citizenships, regardless of their combat role, will also have to obscure their faces and cannot reveal their full names during interviews. The IDF stated these protocols apply to all combat zones, and interviews cannot link soldiers to specific combat operations.

This decision follows a recent legal challenge in Brazil, where a court ordered an investigation into war crime allegations against a former Israeli soldier based on claims by a pro-Palestinian NGO. The soldier, who has since returned to Israel, reportedly faced accusations of murdering “thousands of children” based on a 500-page document, which included a photo of him in uniform, according to Israeli media affiliate Kan.

IDF spokesperson Nadav Shoshani addressed the new measures in a briefing, stating they were designed to ensure Israeli personnel are “safe from these types of incidents” involving “anti-Israel activists around the world.”

The incident in Brazil highlights a growing trend of international legal challenges against Israeli military personnel. According to a former senior officer from Israel’s Judge Advocate General’s department, there has been an increase in attempts to bring charges against Israelis who served in the recent conflict, although no such attempts have resulted in arrest or trial thus far. This source noted that activists are now targeting ordinary soldiers in addition to high-ranking officers and politicians.