The Israeli Military Censor is a unit in the IDF Directorate of Military Intelligence tasked with carrying out preventive censorship inside the State of Israel regarding the publication of information that might affect the security of Israel. The body is headed by the Israeli Chief Censor, a military official is appointed by Israel's Minister of Defense, who bestows upon the Chief Censor the authority to suppress information he deems compromising from being made public in the media. On average, 2240 press articles in Israel are censored by the Israeli Military Censor each year, approximately 240 of which in full, and around 2000 partially.

Censorship Agreement

In 1966, the Censorship Agreement was signed between media representatives and the IDF. The media agreed to abide by the orders of the Military Censor, while the IDF agreed not to misuse its role:

Parliamentary and judicial oversight

During the 1990s, the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee appointed a subcommittee, chaired by Yossi Sarid, to examine the existence and role of the Military Censor. The subcommittee recommended to keep the Censorship Agreement in place but to amend it: The former president of the Supreme Court, Aharon Barak, ruled that when in direct conflict, the right to live supersedes the right to expression: In March 2005, it became public that the Ministry of Defense-appointed Winograd Commission for reviewing the authority of the Military Censor (chaired by former judge, Eliyahu Winograd), whose members were selected by the then-Chief Censor Colonel Miri Regev, would recommend expanding the authority of the Military Censor, by proposing legislation to repeal the 1989 Supreme Court ruling, which limited the scope its authority on legitimate news reporting. Since then, opposition for the move (initiated by commission member, professor Asa Kasher) was expressed by professor Gabriela Shalev, another commission member.

Chief Censor

The unit is commanded by the Chief Censor, an officer directly appointed by the Defense Minister. It is an entirely independent position in the IDF, which is neither subordinate to the Defense Minister, nor the Chief of Staff, Aman Director, or any one else on the chain of command or from the political echelon, and is only subject to parliamentary and judicial oversight. As of March 2022, the Chief Censor was Colonel Kobi Mandelblit.

Notable cases