The Union of Journalists in Israel responded on Wednesday to a move by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesman, Omer Dostri, to remove KAN journalists from the Prime Minister's Office WhatsApp group for news updates.
"It is inconceivable for a public servant to deliberately sabotage the media's work and prevent access to information from journalists," the UJI said.
After the association's demand that the bureau immediately reinstate the media personnel who were removed from the WhatsApp group, they added, "The association sees the move to remove journalists from the bureau's official updates and announcements group as a forceful and unnecessary step."
"The prime minister's spokesman is a senior public servant and, as such, must assist and make information accessible to the public through the media," the union.
"His decision to remove several reporters from the WhatsApp group constitutes a deliberate harm to media work. It is inconceivable for a public servant whose salary is paid from the state treasury to deliberately sabotage media work and prevent access to information from journalists."
He noted that following a previous appeal by the UJI, the PMO's legal advisor issued a directive stating that the WhatsApp group is a public resource.
Controlling the flow of information
Earlier on Wednesday, it was learned that the journalists of the Israel Broadcasting Corporation (KAN), Michael Shemesh and Suleiman Maswadeh, were removed from the PMO's WhatsApp news update group.
Dostri's move comes after the two journalists published that Netanyahu had reprimanded his spokesman following his conduct.
The news item also stated that the reprimand comes against the backdrop of widespread public criticism of the extension of Netanyahu's stay in Washington during the release of some of the hostages, as well as against the backdrop of a statement to the media, which they were later forced to correct.
The Prime Minister's Office responded to the item by saying, "More fake news."
Following the office's response, Shemesh responded to Dostri, "When you lie, don't you usually hide behind the title 'senior Israeli official'?"
Maswadeh then posted on X/Twitter, "The prime minister's spokesman, Omer Dostri, acts as if the position of the Prime Minister's Office spokesperson is his personal property and decides to punish me and Michael Shemesh after our publications, and in a vengeful manner removes us from the PMO's general circulation. This is a thug's move by Dostri."
Shemesh also did not agree to move on quietly, writing, "Urgent update from Netanyahu's reprimanded spokesman Dr. Dostri: Contrary to legal instructions he received and clarifications that the Prime Minister's Office update group is not his private property - Dostri has now removed me and other media personnel from the office's official group. Dear Dr. Dostri, this will not help you."
Before that, Shemesh also wrote: "Rule of thumb: Announcements in the name of a senior official, a senior political official, a senior Israeli official = lies that Netanyahu's spokesman Dostri is (also) eager to stand behind."
Haaretz newspaper journalist Michael Hauser Tov published: "Omer Dostri's purge policy: After this push, the prime minister's spokesman removed the N12 cohort from the group of spokespersons' announcements. State and sports."
Channel 13 journalist Roni Yanovsky wrote: "Who is left in this group?" Among the angry responses was: "He took down Channel 11, 12, how many from 13... What do you say? Are you r******d? Just boycott him. You don't need him - he needs you."
Following the outrage, the prime minister's spokesperson said, "Like everyone else, the Prime Minister's Office is entitled to protection under the rules of basic journalistic ethics, including confidentiality of sources. As we have made clear several times in the past, anyone who chooses to violate the basic accepted rules will not receive cooperation from the prime minister's spokesperson."