Vigilante rapper detains foreign journalists at site of Tel Aviv missile impact

A civilian security squad led by far-right rapper Yoav Eliasi — known by his stage name “The Shadow” — detained a group of foreign journalists at a missile impact site in Tel Aviv this morning, only for a police spokesman to release them.

Footage shows the civilian police volunteers, operating under the auspices of the Israel Police, separating Israeli journalists from foreign ones in a stairwell and allowing the former group to proceed to the scene of an Iranian ballistic missile impact. Several foreign reporters were then detained, Haaretz reports.

Photojournalist Oren Ziv told the outlet that reporters had been on the roof of the building when a police officer told them to come down.

“On the way [down], the civilian security squad stopped us and asked where Al Jazeera was… They told Israeli photographers to pass through, and foreigners to wait. They mainly took the IDs of Arab photographers,” he said.

Upon arriving at the impact site, Tel Aviv District spokesman Shahar Gamzo immediately released the journalists.

After an appeal by the journalists’ union to the Tel Aviv District Police regarding the incident, police decided its civilian security squads would not interact with reporters at “various sites,” the union says.

"הצל" על מדי משטרה מחליט שמי שעיתונאי ישראלי יכול להיכנס לזירת הנפילה בתל אביב ומי שלא עיתונאי ישראלי – מעוכב בצד.
בסוף בא דובר משטרת ת"א, קצין משטרה שלא קיבל את הדרגות מבן גביר, והכניס את *כל* העיתונאים.
למה האיש הזה מנהל זירות? pic.twitter.com/jwyRopCRzT

— Josh Breiner (@JoshBreiner) June 22, 2025

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has pledged to crack down on foreign media broadcasting the locations of missile impacts, calling it a “danger to state security.”

Responding to the incident, Ben Gvir hails Eliasi, a staunch supporter of the far-right minister, as a hero.

“The Shadow, whom you all are disparaging, is a hero,” he writes in an X post, lauding the civilian security team. “Instead of shaming, send them flowers — they are our shield.”

He continues, “The Al Jazeera channel and spies disguised as journalists — will not broadcast here. Period. That’s the policy. Get used to it.”

Last week, police halted the broadcast of several foreign outlets, saying their footage — which revealed “precise locations” — was being used by Al Jazeera, a Qatar-funded network banned in Israel since last summer.