Media Freedom at War Time: The Case of the Israel-Hamas War

Please join us on Sunday, September 22, as we welcome special guest speaker Amit Schejter, who will give a talk entitled “Media Freedom at War Time: The Case of the Israel-Hamas War.” A parliamentary democracy since its foundation in 1948, Israel has developed a unique constitutional structure safeguarding basic rights, among them freedom of expression and the press, while lacking a formal constitution. The tension between government, the military and the press that emerges from this arrangement reaches new heights whenever Israel’s violent conflicts with its neighboring territories and states escalate. The war that broke out in 2023 between Israel and the Hamas following the massacre of October 7, was no exception. This talk describes the state of the media and its freedoms in Israel during the war with Hamas.

Dr. Amit Schejter is a professor of communications studies at Ben Gurion University of the Negev and visiting professor and co-director of the Institute for Information Policy at Penn State University. Schejter is also the current chair of the board of directors of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel. He previously served as Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at BGU and as President of Oranim College in Israel. He holds a PhD from Rutgers University. In some circles, he is best known as the spouse of Haaretz correspondent Judy Maltz.

Join us at 9:30 am for breakfast and stay for the discussion at 10:00 am. This talk is sponsored by the Am Yisrael Chai Committee and the Men’s Club, and is open to all Beth El members.

Please register using the form below.