The Legal Forum for the Land of Israel asked the President of the Press Council, Judge (ret.) Dalia Dorner, to demand that the military censor cease blocking information regarding the proposed deal for releasing captive soldier Gilad Shalit.
Forum Director Nachi Eyal wrote to Dorner and said that the gag order is “a cynical use of a draconian measure not for the purpose of defending state security but for a political aim of getting the deal ratified, while imposing a blackout on its details. The Military Censorship is preventing the publication of information in journalists' possession regarding the deal, in a manner that hinders the public debate over the Shalit deal.”
He added: “The media may not report how many prisoners will be released in the deal and which Hamas murderers will be included in it. The censorship disqualifies reports which, on the face of it, are not connected to state security, and leaves the Israeli public and the press with the information that comes on from Hamas and from Arab media.”
"As President of the Press Council which is entrusted with [safeguarding] the public's right to know, and with allowing the media to fulfill their proper role in a democratic society, we ask that you act to cancel censorship in matters concerning the deal itself,” Eyal added.