In response to the growing phenomenon of spreading images and names of victims in the seemingly endless stream of tragic events in Israel, Knesset Public Petitions Committee Chairman MK Rabbi Israel Eichler (UTJ) on Monday submitted a bill prohibiting the dissemination of casualty images from scenes of disaster.
MK Eichler’s bill prohibits the publicizing of casualties names, before their status has been officially confirmed. This is in light of recent events where waves of rumors and inaccurate reports have been circulating with false citations of the names of the injured or dead. Eichler added that when real information reaches a family raw, through unofficial channels in a time of war, or during terrorist attacks, the results can be devastating.
According to Eichler, in an era of social media, the harm is massive and sometimes irreparable. He also demanded that the Justice Minister explain why there has been no prosecution of individuals who publicized pictures of casualties without blurring the identity of the victim, in violation of the Privacy Protection Act, as amended in 2011 by MKs Moshe Gafni and Uri Maklev (UTJ).
In his Query Eichler wanted to know why there is no enforcement of the law against publishers of uncensored photos and videos that violate the privacy of the victims. Alternatively, if the law has been enforced, her wanted to know how many cases were opened in the last five years, how many judgments were issued, and what where the penalties imposed on the offenders.
MK Eichler said, “This is a brutal vice that hurts those injured and adds pain to the families, all because of a wild lust to shoot and distribute horrific images that reduce the value of human life in the eyes of its viewers, images that darken the feelings of mercy and gentleness and corrupt the human soul.”