Tikvah
Editors’ Pick

September 14, 2020

No, the U.S. Hasn’t Kept Satellite Imagery Classified Because of the “Occupation”

Palestinian propaganda in space.

Last month, an article appeared in the magazine Foreign Policy under the headline “Israel Can’t Hide Evidence of Its Occupation Anymore,” celebrating a minor change in U.S. regulations concerning the availability of high-resolution satellite images as a victory over “censorship.” But the entire premise of the article is rooted in what might charitably be called a misunderstanding of the issue at hand. Gerald Steinberg, whose research contributed to the original piece of legislation, explains:

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