Israel’s free press will not die overnight. But it can slowly wither and censor itself, ultimately harming all sides of the political spectrum.
Violence against media outlets and journalists has become commonplace. Politicians on both the right and the left routinely declare their intention to shut down news organizations, and just last month the Knesset passed legislation that will dramatically affect Israel’s media landscape. These developments pose a twofold threat to a free press: outright silencing and the self-censorship of media organizations and journalists. Unless this trend is stopped, Israel will become a “democracy” in name only.
A free press is the lifeblood of democracy at all times, but especially during elections. Without it, the government cannot be held to account, nor can alternatives to its policies be presented. Although freedom of expression is clearly recognized as a protected fundamental value in Israel, that protection still rests on Supreme Court precedent. It has yet to be enshrined in the Basic Laws – Israel’s de facto, albeit problematic, constitutional structure. This leaves the free press inherently vulnerable. And the situation is getting worse. Of the 180 countries included in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index, Israel ranked 116th – somewhere between Lebanon and Tanzania.
The assault on Israel’s media is not new, but it appears to be intensifying. What makes it dangerous is the convergence of three forces that, together, could cripple the press’s ability to fulfill its democratic role. The first is politicians’ relentless attacks on media outlets. We have grown numb to such rhetoric, but labels such as “enemy of the people,” “Al Jazeera 12,” and “poison channels” have become standard political rhetoric against Israeli broadcasters. Such rhetoric has been accompanied by calls from politicians – including self-described “democrats” such as Yair Golan, leader of Israel’s Democrats party – to censor outlets they dislike. Golan, for example, has vowed to shut down Channel 14, Israel’s most right-wing TV station, should he come to power.
Whether or not such inflammatory rhetoric foments violence, attacks on media organizations and reporters in Israel have become almost routine. Last week, Channel 12’s offices were vandalized for a second time, its glass doors smashed and a handwritten death threat left at the scene. The Tel Aviv offices of Haaretz have likewise been attacked more times than anyone can count. Journalists are also repeatedly assaulted while doing their jobs. Channel 14 reporters, for example, have recently been assailed several times while covering events in “left-wing strongholds.” Reporters are assaulted almost indiscriminately in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), where “hilltop youth” unleash their anger on the press, and at Haredi demonstrations, where violence against media crews has become standard operating procedure.
Compounding these dangers is the threat of institutional pressure from the government. The law advanced by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi and passed by the Knesset last week is a case in point. Under the guise of promoting competition in the media market, it politicizes the council charged with regulating the media. Political control over the body that sets media rules and oversees their enforcement is a clear and present danger to the freedom of expression of the outlets it regulates.
Against this backdrop, the obvious danger is to the press’s ability to operate freely and perform its democratic function. But there is another, less visible and unquantifiable threat that is no less serious: self-censorship and self-imposed constraints. In an environment where covering a demonstration can end in injury, criticizing the IDF can prompt stones to be hurled at a newsroom, and criticizing government policy can result in restrictions on a news organization, every journalist may ask whether the risk is worth taking – the risk of going into the field to cover events; the risk of exposing the truth and inviting regulatory, political, or even physical attacks.
Israel’s free press will not die overnight. But it can slowly wither and censor itself, ultimately harming all sides of the political spectrum – until Israeli democracy as we know it fades with it.