Why Israel will now conceal its soldiers’ identity

Israel will now conceal the identity of its soldiers.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has announced that the names and faces of its soldiers – both on active duty and in reserves – will be kept secret.

But what do we know about this development? And why is this happening?

Let’s take a closer look:

What do we know?

As per Times of Israel, according to the new guidelines, the media must blur out the face of any officer under the rank of brigadier general it is interviewing – or must interview them from the back.

The person’s full name must also be concealed – which is what happens during interviews with special forces and pilots.

According to Ynet News, elite forces after the October 7 attack were frequently in the public eye.

Images and footage of those individuals will not be retroactively altered.

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However, all future appearances must adhere to the new guidelines.

The rules apply to all soldiers particularly those with foreign citizenship.

Those being interviewed will not also be allowed to be ‘linked’ to a particular combat incident.

Members of the Military Advocate General’s Department of International Law will brief officers before any soldier does a media interview.

The Military Censor and Information Security Department will need to give the go-ahead to the footage.

Why is this happening?

As per CNN, the development came after a court in Brazil initiated a probe into allegations of war crimes by a visiting Israeli soldier.

Cases against IDF soldiers have been filed in Brazil, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Belgium, the Netherlands, Serbia, Ireland, and Cyprus for ‘war crimes in Gaza.’

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There are reports of Israeli soldiers being asked to leave various countries to avoid being criminally prosecuted.

According to CNN, these lawsuits are being filed by the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) –  a Belgium-based pro-Palestinian NGO.

The HRF says it is dedicated “to breaking the cycle of Israeli impunity and honouring the memory of Hind Rajab and all those who have perished in the Gaza genocide.”

The CNN affiliate Kan reported that the soldier touched down in Israel on Wednesday.

The outlet quoted him as saying he was accused of killing “thousands of children.”

The 500-page document also had a photo of him in uniform.

“I got up in the morning, opened the phone and suddenly saw eight calls – the ministry of foreign affairs, my brothers, my mother, consuls,” the soldier said.

“We began to understand that there was a situation and something unusual,” he added.

“They wrote that I murdered thousands of children and turned it into a 500-page document,” the soldier said. “All that was there was a picture of me in uniform in Gaza.”

He said he wanted to “get off the radar and continue my life.”

As per Times of Israel, it remains uncertain if this will have any impact on the attempts to get IDF soldiers tried for war crimes.

This is because those groups use footage that soldiers themselves have posted on social media and not from the news organisations.

The IDF has done little to curb soldiers from posting information about operations on social media.

A former senior officer in Israel’s Judge Advocate General’s department told CNN that the activist groups were not going after high-ranking soldiers and politicians but regular members of the army.

The ex-officer admitted that there had been an increasing number of efforts abroad to bring charges against their troops.

However, the officer noted that none of these attempts thus far had been successful.

With inputs from agencies