Israeli Journalist Arrested for Leaking Top Secret Documents

The Israeli internet scene has been seething with rumors which have begun to reveal preliminary information on a serious security issue involving a young reporter from the Israeli news website Walla. The web site Seventh Eye, which deals with criticism of the Israeli media, published on March 9 a report on the departure of reporter Anat Kam. The statement said that Kam, who has been a media writer for Walla, “has gone on unpaid leave and will stop writing for the site effective tomorrow, March 10, 2010, and until further notice.”

It was also reported that Kam, who was born in 1987, started out in journalism as a teenager in her hometown of Jerusalem. She wrote for a local newspaper entitled Jerusalem (which was later renamed Yedioth Jerusalem) for over a year, and at the same time wrote for several months in Walla’s youth section called ZONE. In August 2007 she replaced Lior Librovsky as a media reporter for the entertainment section of the site, and has served in that capacity ever since. Walla belongs to Bezeq and Ha'aretz. Walla confirmed that Kam is out on unpaid leave.

Yoav Yitzhak of Israeli website News1, published a month ago a brief profile of Anat Kam. "Anat Kam is a relatively young journalist. For the past two years she has been writing on Walla. Previously she served as a soldier in a sensitive capacity. Now she's writing in the media section, which focuses mainly coverage of what goes on in the media: journalists, editors and publishers. Anat is considered very opinionated and has a clear ideology. Extreme left wing. Is competent but manipulative. This is evident in her writings about journalists. Extreme values and one-sided. Anat has recently lowered her profile. Busy, probably with more burning issues."

Yitzhak did not explain what he meant by the phrase "burning issues". Indymedia, a website in which radical left factors (including anarchists) are active, published a story about the affair in an attempt to circumvent the censorship order in the case. The website said: "More than a year ago, in November of 2008, Uri Blau published an article in Haaretz entitled ‘IDF Secret Documents: IDF’s Chief of Staff and elite members confirmed the assassinations of wanted men as well as innocent people.’ The article, which caused bewilderment within the army and among other top security officials, was based on a leak (one or many) by anonymous sources… according to unofficial sources… Anat Kam is the source of those embarrassing documents published in Ha'aretz. Anat Kam is not out on unpaid leave, but is under house arrest without permission to continue her work as a journalist. The reason we have not heard about it... is an imposed gag order on the arrest of Anat Kam and then a gag order imposed on the gag order."

The article by Uri Blau, dated November 28, 2008, included a copy of two documents classified as "Top Secret", which showed, according to Blau, that the IDF chief of staff confirmed the assassination of wanted men as well as innocent people, in violation of the court in this matter. One of the documents was written (likely in March 2007) in the Special Operations unit of Central Command, and sent to the Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) Division, the Menashe brigade (area of Jenin), and Central Command. The other document, dated April 16, 2007, was written in the bureau of the chief of staff, and summarizes a general staff meeting.

In an article published on this matter on November 30 by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (and which also appeared in Shalom Toronto), entitled "A mole in the bureau of the chief of Central Command”, the documents were analyzed and the conclusion was that the "Deep Throat" that provided documents to Uri Blau served in Command Center’s headquarters and had access to very sensitive documents (either by permission or illegally) within the folders of Central Command Major General Gadi Shamni. The article also estimated that the "Deep Throat" would like, through these documents, to thwart the defense forces’ activities against left-wing parties, and arouse widespread public criticism, both in Israel and abroad, against the IDF’s policy regarding targeted killing of terrorists.

Internet forums belonging to the Israeli left have expressed support for the leak by Anat Kam, and have called it "a moral act" and "a civil duty". One of the messages stated: "We must fight for Israeli democracy even if Anat Kam cannot or will not do it herself, and even if the Israeli press cannot or does not want to do it itself."