Israeli censor to be army’s voice
Israel’s military has named its current censorship chief as its next chief spokeswoman, weeks before the country’s pull out from the Gaza strip and parts of the West Bank.
An army statement in Jerusalem on Monday said chief censor Colonel Miri Regev would be promoted to brigadier general when she replaces the current chief spokeswoman, Brigadier General Ruth Yaron, who will leave the army along with chief of staff Lieutenant General Moshe Yaalon.
Yaron, a former diplomat, will return to the Foreign Ministry, the army said.
Regev formerly worked as Yaron’s deputy in the army spokesperson’s unit, but last year moved to the censorship department, which examines news reports which could be considered militarily sensitive.
Painful
Regev’s involvement in the evacuation so far has been painful.
Last February she broke a leg while playing a settler in a drill for evacuating a settlement, military officials said.
She takes up her new job just seven weeks before the real pullout.
Thousands of reporters from around the world are expected to converge on Gaza to cover the pullout, and the military will try to keep reporters under its control.
Interviewed in Haaretz newspaper last month, Yaron said the areas around the settlements to be dismantled will be declared closed military zones, with access controlled by the army.
The closure is meant to keep out opponents of the withdrawal who have vowed to join settlers in resisting attempts to evict them, but it will also be used to control the movements of journalists, according to current plans.