Filming With the IDF in Israel

Coordination & Safety

We never take the safety and security of our customers and crews for granted. When our crews film in or near military areas, we coordinate clearances in advance with the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, provide regular security briefings, and consult security advisors whenever a location or our presence may pose risks.

When filming in dangerous areas we provide bullet-proof PRESS vests and helmets; covering violent demonstrations, we provide gas masks. Our crews have covered military operations including the 2nd Intifada, the 2009 and 2014 Gaza conflicts, and the war that began with the October 7, 2023 massacre.

An Ongoing Relationship With Israel’s Military and Government

Our work with the IDF and other Israeli government branches isn’t limited to occasional access requests during conflict — it’s a continuous relationship built over more than two decades. We maintain standing contacts within the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit and coordinate regularly with COGAT (the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories) for productions that need to move between Israeli- and Palestinian-administered areas, as well as with the Government Press Office, which issues the press credentials most international crews need to operate in the country at all.

Since October 7, 2023, this relationship has been tested more than at any point in our history. Within 48 hours of the attack we had more than 15 fixers coordinating with visiting journalists and crews from Europe, the US, Canada, Japan, China, Singapore and Hong Kong, arranging IDF-embedded access to the Gaza envelope communities, southern military staging areas and, where cleared, forward positions — a scale of military-access coordination we sustained for months, not days.

This ongoing footing means our fixers can usually tell a production quickly and realistically what level of access is possible for a given story, rather than making a request and waiting weeks to find out — a meaningful advantage for documentary and news productions working to broadcast deadlines.

Archive & Reference Footage

For productions researching Israel’s military history, the IDF archive holds official historical material, and documentaries such as Greatest Tank Battles have drawn on footage from operations we’ve supported. Our own stock footage archive also holds ground and aerial material from military operations we’ve covered directly, available for licensing.