Update: Lisa has published an op-ed on her situation on Ha’aretz, entitled “Why us - and why now?” It seems that the chief factotum of the Israeli Government Press Office, Daniel Seaman, may have had an axe to grind. The truth will out, I imagine.

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Update: Lisa finally made a statement on her blog, On the Face. She has written for a piece about this situation in Ha’aretz soon.

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Update: Lisa told CPB that she has been inundated with bloggers’ expressions of support and questions, both from bloggers and traditional journalists. She said she’d be posting something today on her blog, On the Face.

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Lisa Goldman, a journalist who blogs at On the Face, was recently interrogated by Israeli police for “unauthorized travel to an enemy state,” according to Ha’aretz (via Israellycool).

Goldman, who traveled to Lebanon this summer for Israeli Channel 10 news, has been interrogated along with two other journalists.

Much more shocking than the charge (odd indeed, at least to a non-Israeli) is the type of support she is receiving from the Israel Press Council: none.

(From Ha’aretz)

Dalia Dorner, president of the Israel Press Council, said that “one of our missions is to preserve the freedom of the press - that is fundamental. The catch is that if a journalist commits a deed that is considered a legal offense, then of course we cannot get involved.”

Goldman was surprised at the suddenly-public nature of the charges.

Lisa Goldman confirmed to Haaretz on Thursday that she had been interrogated a month ago, but expressed great surprise that details of the investigation had emerged, given that the police had told her not to discuss it.

“I have no idea who leaked this story,” she said. “I was completely flabbergasted when an Israeli reporter telephoned me today to inform me that the investigation had been announced on the radio. I have no idea who leaked it and very surprised that it’s now been released. The police told me not to discuss the interrogation and I didn’t. Therefore I am very surprised that the matter is now being exposed in the media.”

Goldman said that she had been unaware that she had broken any laws, adding that, “if I had known there was no way I would have gone.”

She told Haaretz that she had received congratulatory calls from “very senior members of the Prime Minister’s Office” after her report from Lebanon had been broadcast on Channel 10 television, and it seems that they “were not aware of the law either.”

Goldman said that she had been surprised by the fact that police were investigating the issue at all, given that a significant number of Israeli journalists had traveled to Arab states in recent years.

“I’m very surprised that the police have now opened an investigation against three Israeli reporters when there must be at least 10 who traveled to Arab countries using foreign passports over the last couple of years alone, and there are certainly many, many precedents over the last decade.”