Immediately following last week’s Maale Adumim terror attack in which security guard Tzvika ben Batya Cohen was critically injured, authorities placed a gag order on all details of the investigation to assist in apprehending the terrorist, who has since been arrested.

People uploaded a surveillance video and information pertaining to the attack to news WhatsApp lists in Israel and this led to police summoning them for questioning for violating the gag order. Persons questioned include a volunteer in Ichud Hatzalah, which also recently received a letter from the Ministry of Health warning the EMS organization about releasing information that reveals the identity of victims prior to notification of family members.

This warning was sent to Magen David Adom and other first response organizations as well in response to a number of cases in which personal details of victims went viral before family of the victims were informed. A Knesset Committee discussed this recently in an effort to put an end to the practice.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)