Israel to Ban Filming IDF Soldiers Amid Court's Promise to Scrutinize Activities

The Israeli parliament, the Knesset, will be reviewing a proposed bill aimed at banning photo and video registration of IDF activities. According to the authors of the bill, various organizations with an anti-Israel agenda have allegedly been spending days near IDF soldiers, documenting their activities and waiting for them to commit activities that could be interpreted in a way that would compromise and vilify Israel and its armed forces.

Notes accompanying the bill, proposed by Knesset member Robert Ilatov, also add that occasionally such activities have allegedly thwarted IDF operations, with observers accusing and insulting Israeli soldiers.

The proposed bill comes less than week after the Israeli High Court of Justice's decision justifying the use of force by the IDF at the Gaza border, but at the same time promised to scrutinize each incident post-factum. According to ex-chief of Israel's Supreme Court, Miriam Naor, the court's decision resolves the confrontation between those who stand against regulating IDF activities and those who claim that their rules of engagement have led to possible war crimes. She added that the High Court's decision doesn't give the IDF "a license to kill" Palestinians.

Palestinians have been holding mass rallies, known as the "Great March of Return," near the Gaza Strip's border with Israel since March 30. The demonstrators claim the right of return for people that were displaced during the war that followed Israel's creation in 1948.

The rallies have resulted in clashes between Gazans and Israeli border guards. The chief of the IDF has claimed that the rallies are organized by Hamas in order to infiltrate Israel and conduct attacks against its citizens. According to Palestinian medical workers, since March 30, at least 115 Palestinians have been killed during the protests, while over 13,300 people have been injured.