Israeli government denies media accreditation to Canadian journalist

The Israeli government denied media accreditation to Jesse Rosenfeld, a Canadian journalist working with Rolling Stone. 

Ron Paz, Israel’s director of foreign press for the Government Press Office, told a Rolling Stone editor that the magazine “is not a news organization and we are not dealing with this gentleman,” before hanging up, reported Rolling Stone. 

Rosenfeld has been based in the region since 2007 and has reported for Rolling Stone, Vice, The Daily Beast and other publications. 

Rolling Stone editor-in-chief Noah Shachtman described the denial as “outrageous,” and suggested that it may have been related to Rosenfeld’s coverage of protests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial reform plans, which attracted criticism from pro-Netanyahu sources.