Danny Seaman, the director of Israel’s Government Press Office, warned security services that terrorists may use armored press vehicles to carry out attacks. Seaman’s warning is part of the fallout of an incident in which an armored vehicle belonging to Reuters was hit by by an Israeli rocket. YNet News writes:
According to Seaman, the incident illustrated the failures in overseeing the use of armored vehicles granted to the foreign media agencies with the permission of the State.
The vehicle’s presence in Gaza in itself constituted a violation of its license terms, and moreover, the jeep was carrying only Palestinians – one with links to Hamas who was not a Reuters employee.
Licenses for armored vehicles are granted by the State to foreign news agencies in Israel for the purpose of carrying out journalistic missions in the West Bank and Gaza. The State has even agreed to extend the permits for more than the one year stipulated by the law, on the condition that the license holder is a foreign national and that he alone will drive the car.
