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Israeli army cracks down on leaks

JERUSALEM: Israel's army on Sunday defended the seizure of Israeli journalists' phone records as part of a crackdown on generals suspected of leaking information to the news media.

The seizures -- disclosed by Israel Radio and confirmed by army spokesman Brigadier General Amos Gilad -- angered journalists and legal experts.

"This step represents...a threat to the freedom of the press," Israel's National Journalists Union said in a statement.

The radio said the leaks included army documents and other information. It did not elaborate.

"There was never anything like this in the state of Israel," said Yoni Ben-Menachem, head of the radio's Palestinian desk.

He said military police had confronted generals and other officers among his news sources with a list of calls from his cellular phone.

Gilad said in defence of the crackdown: "It cannot be that the central commander runs a sensitive meeting where everyone is supposed to express his view and suddenly the content of the meeting goes out on the radio."

Gilad told Israel Radio that military police had to deal with the problem, even if it meant uncovering information.

He said the army had acted within the law. But it was not immediately clear whether the army had the court orders necessary to obtain the journalists' records from cellular phone companies.

Asked if he was suggesting that journalists should merely rely on the army spokesman's announcements for information, Gilad said: "That's not the question...it's impossible to run a system this way. And the reason for beginning to deal with it is that things have begun to reach extremes."

Hebrew University Law Professor Mordechai Kremnitzer said: "I believe the army is permitted to fight leaks but it must do this in a way that won't harm basic democratic values and the privilege of journalists is one of them."

"And it appears this does very serious harm to the privilege of journalists," he said.-Reuter