this kind of thing happens during wars (the americans arrested eugene debs, for example), so it's expected, but it's not justified.
i think that restrictions on al jazeera were actually justified, as it's a worthless propaganda outlet that no smart person should read except to debunk it and it's coverage was actually generating conflict due to the role that qatar was playing in the mediation process (that is, that it had a conflict of interest that should have prevented it from reporting at all, if it had any kind of journalistic standards, which it doesn't. there were al jazeera journalists working directly for hamas, and pictures of them sitting in at hamas meetings to determine strategy.), but press freedom is a foundational value of any democracy and the attack on haaretz should not be accepted without criticism. it is consistent, however, with israel's slide into the oriental despotism that defines middle eastern societies. talk of israel colonizing the middle east is backwards; israel is being slowly absorbed back into the despotism of arabism, which is what tends to happen in these situations, and which was actually predictable, if you have a good grasp of history. whatever happened to the philistines, who were giant aryan greeks, anyways?
it follows that israel may not really care much about press freedom or democracy and such criticisms may not be responded to by israeli society.
if that is the case, so be it, but it should be noted by the west, who should adjust to it.