On the Web, the Genie Is Out of the Bottle

A new affair has proven once again that in an era where the Internet is a means of bypassing the mainstream media, the attempts of the military censors to put the genie back in the bottle are utterly hopeless.

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• Oz Admits: Knew About X All Along

The original reports from the foreign press are flooding social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, and various bloggers are also writing about the affair that has embarrassed a government agency. There is a flood of screen shots of the earlier reports that had been published on Israeli sites; reports that surfers say were later removed following the censor's request. In addition, every attempt to watch the original news report is blocked to users outside of Australia. The report, however, has already been uploaded onto YouTube. The link to the film has been shared over and over again.

Meretz leader Zahava Gal-On posted on the party's official website the full details of the affair – which she claimed the media were forbidden to report. Amongst others, blogger Richard Silverstein is reporting on the case as well. Silverstein also reported on the Anat Kam affair while a media gag order was in effect in Israel.

The Internet is also full of memes – such as reports mocking the urgent meeting of the Israeli Editors Committee. " the affair theAustralia has yet to receive a response," wrote Dan Cooper on Facebook.

The Room 404 blog reposted Yonatan Zilber's meme featuring a less effective deletion of the original story – with a line through the deleted words so that they can still be seen, and alternate version alongside them. It ends with the words: "most importantly, if anyone asks you, tell them that (deleted: we are living under a sick, paranoid semi-military regime) we are living in the only democracy in the Middle East."

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Look! The pope! (Amir Schiby)

1 of 4 |

“A map of Israel, approved for publication by the censor” (Shachar Cotani)

2 of 4 |

Tell citizens not to Google (Edo Medicks)

Censorship memes slideshow