Israeli Police Impersonate TV News Crew to Arrest Suspect

JERUSALEM, Nov 6, 2007 — -- Israeli police have admitted several of their officers impersonated a television news crew during an operation that resulted in the arrest of a wanted Palestinian man.

The admission has sparked a torrent of protests from Israeli and foreign journalists who claim such a move will jeopardize the objectivity and safety of journalists.

Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld told ABC News that police officers impersonated journalists from Israel's Channel 2 News "in order to meet with the suspect and have him arrested."

According to Rosenfeld, "police had to apprehend the suspect as a matter of urgency. He had made new threats against certain individuals and we believed lives were in danger. We knew he was in contact with media organizations and investigating officers decided to contact him posing as journalists from Channel 2." He added that at no time "did the officers dress up as TV journalists, and they did not carry equipment or cameras to the scene of the arrest."

The arrested man is Nadim Injaz who police say last year burst into the grounds of the British Embassy in Tel Aviv armed with what turned out to be a fake gun. He was demanding political asylum after allegations surfaced that he had acted as an informer for the Israeli security services. Injaz was imprisoned but released several months ago.

Avi Weiss, the head of Channel 2 News, sent a letter of complaint to the head of Israel's police service saying "impersonation is liable to create the mistaken impression that the news organization is involved in some way in an investigation ... and thereby compromise its status as an objective and independent news outlet," the statement said.

The Foreign Press Association, which represents international journalists based in Israel and the Palestinian territories, also issued a sharp rebuke: "Journalists depend on being judged as objective observers, and any move that threatens this crucial status directly challenges our safety and ability to work," the association said in its statement "We urge the Israeli police not to repeat this regrettable incident."