As the Israeli trial against journalist Anat Gam continues, the Israeli government and media are focusing on the fact that certain key evidence has gone missing, a focus which some analysts say detracts from the real issue in the case: the content of the classified government filed that Anat Gam exposed.In the 2,000 documents, videos and recordings that then-Israeli soldier Anat Gam released to the media, the Israeli military’s use of extrajudicial assassinations against Palestinians was revealed to be the standard operating procedure, not an exception to the rule.
Extrajudicial assassinations are a violation of international law, and clearly violate Israel’s obligations as an occupying military power under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
In addition to exposing widespread and blatant violations of international law by the Israeli military, the case of Anat Gam has also brought to the forefront issues about the lack of security within the Israeli secret service, the disorganization of the ‘intelligence’ agencies operating as part of the Israeli military, the haphazard way in which evidence is handled, and the censorship of the Israeli government.
Although Anat Gam was arrested on February 10th, all Israeli media were under strict orders imposed by the military to remain silent about her detention, because a ‘gag order’ was imposed on the case.
The case involved Gam’s theft of documents and videos from the military office where she was working, and her passing of these documents to a reporter with the Israeli paper Ha’aretz, who then published a report based on the information in the documents.
According to Kam, taking the classified documents from the office was very easy, due to lax security procedures at the office. During her interrogation by police, she stated that the GOC Central Command was ‘an embarrassing office in terms of information security” that showed ‘recklessness [regarding] anything that was there with respect to military documents.’
