Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu argued during the weekly government meeting on Sunday in favor of privatizing the Public Broadcasting Service, known as KAN, a spokesperson for the prime minister confirmed.
The prime minister’s comments came following a sharp attack against KAN by the Likud on Friday over a skit that aired on Thursday on its satirical Zehu Ze show. The skit showed Netanyahu, depicted by actor Avi Kushnir, arguing with a photograph on his desk of himself as a soldier.
The prime minister boasts about his participation in the 1972 Sabena hostage rescue operation, only to have his younger self criticize him for his failure to return the hostages currently in Gaza.
The Likud mistakenly identified the photograph as Netanyahu’s older brother, Yoni, and at first criticized KAN for “disgracing” the older brother’s memory. Yoni Netanyahu was killed during the hostage rescue operation at Entebbe in 1976.
After realizing the mistake, Likud spokesperson Guy Levi issued a revised statement that said, “KAN 11 is funded by the public but has long ceased to represent it. Instead, it is acting as a mouthpiece for a small and radical left-wing group. KAN 11 is a propaganda channel that promotes draft evasion and damages the State of Israel’s national morale.”
The prime minister’s argument was in line with Communication Minister Shlomo Karhi’s attempts to privatize KAN’s news section. The move is part of a broader move by Karhi against KAN, which has included attempting to shut down KAN’s executive committee by delaying appointments of new members to fill vacancies.
Karhi has acted to increase the government’s involvement in the media market in general, including by changing the rating measurement method, delaying appointments to important regulatory committees. The communications minister said in the Knesset last week that he believed his reforms would advance following the passing into law of the 2025 state budget.
Legislation regarding the media traditionally goes through the Knesset Economics Committee. Its chairman, Likud MK David Bitan, has refused to advance most of Karhi’s initiatives, and the two have been publicly criticizing each other for months, despite belonging to the same party.
Karhi demanded that the Knesset form a committee specifically to pass his reforms as a way to bypass Bitan, and Netanyahu said during Sunday’s government meeting that he would “examine” the formation of such a committee and decide in the “coming days.” Bitan responded soon after that he would not agree to the formation of such a committee.
Army Radio on the chopping block?
Netanyahu reportedly also requested that Karhi and Defense Minister Israel Katz “examine” the necessity of Army Radio, which is also publicly funded.
Netanyahu is standing trial for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust, involving attempts to cut deals with media owners to gain positive coverage. His conflict-of-interest agreement bars him from involving himself in initiatives involving the media market. The Movement for Quality Government in Israel (MQG) said the prime minister’s comments were a “blatant violation of the conflict-of-interest agreement he signed.”
“This is not a random outburst, but a direct continuation of systematic efforts to take control of independent media channels in Israel and subject them to narrow political considerations. The very involvement of a prime minister accused of crimes in a media case in making decisions concerning media organizations is a serious disregard for the rule of law and the principles of good governance,” MQG said.
The movement demanded that the attorney-general intervene and “make it clear” to Netanyahu that he was “absolutely prohibited from interfering in media matters.”
Yesh Atid MK Shelly Tal Meron, a member of the Economics Committee, wrote a letter to Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara with a similar request.