[JURIST] The Israeli Parliament on Thursday passed a new law [press release] that will ban journalists from expressing their opinions on the county’s public broadcasting network. The new public broadcast law passed by a vote of 25-18. The law states [AP report] that journalists should “avoid one-sidedness, prejudice, expressing personal opinions, giving grades and affixing labels.” Many journalists and groups have criticized the new law, claiming that it restricts the right to free speech.

Journalists have faced challenges throughout the world as freedom of expression conflicts with other state interests. Egypt was recently criticized for jailing three Al Jazeera journalists [JURIST report]. Last month Germany’s acting top federal prosecutor dropped a much-criticized treason investigation [JURIST report] into two prominent journalists working for Netzpolitik.org. In July a Thai court began proceedings in a criminal defamation lawsuit [JURIST report] brought on by the Thai Royal Navy against the website Phuketwan over a report it published claiming the military ignored refugee trafficking from Myanmar in exchange for monetary bribes.