INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS!

ISRAELI MILITARY TO RESTRICT SOLDIER'S
FACEBOOK ACCOUNTS

Fearing that enemy forces are gathering
information on Israeli soldiers from social media, the Israel Defense Forces has decided to ban social network from some high-ranking soldiers and severely limit it for others.
The IDF is in the middle of drafting a
"social networking code of ethics" that
will ban the use of Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, and other social media for all
highly classified units, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Other sensitive units, like pilots and intelligence officers, will be allowed to have social media accounts but won't be able to say they're soldiers or upload any photos showing themselves in uniform.
"Social networks are a means of communication and a means of creating
experiences today," a senior officer in the Operations Directorate told Haaretz.
"We don't intend on making the army
impenetrable or shady, but we know
there is potential for harm." The officer said that much of the
intelligence information collected on the IDF is nabbed from social networking sites. The military has also said that it discovered phony Facebook profiles made in the names of certain high-ranking commanders.
Israel is not the first country to be concerned with enemies infiltrating
soldier's Facebook accounts. The Canadian military has warned soldiers about the dangers of posting personal photos and information on social-
networking sites because Al Qaeda
operatives could be watching. Australia
has also cautioned its military about possible Taliban fighters spying on
soldiers via Facebook.
Paradoxically, as an organization, the IDF
is quite active on social media. Besides a big presence on Facebook, the military
has also used Twitter to live-tweet skirmishes and battles against Palestinian Hamas fighters. In November,the IDF Twitter stream included the video
recording of a missile attack that killed
Hamas military leader Ahmed Jabari.
Social media has also caused quite a bit of embarrassment for the IDF. There have been several scandals of soldiers posting videos to YouTube and photos to Facebook showing abuse toward Palestinians. In 2010, a female soldier
named Eden Abergil uploaded a photo to
Facebook showing her smiling face in
front of a group of blindfolded and
bound Palestinian prisoners, according
to Haaretz. And, in February, another
soldier put a photo on Instagram showing a Palestinian boy in his sniper rifle's crosshairs.
The IDF's "social networking code of
ethics" is scheduled to be released by the
end of June.