Attorney general says no legal problem airing PM’s speech

Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein said Wednesday that there was no reason to prevent Israeli media outlets from broadcasting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress, scheduled to take place just two weeks before the March 17 elections.

Weinstein was responding to an appeal to the Central Election Committee by Meretz leader Zahava Gal-On, who sought to prohibit broadcast of the controversial March 3 speech on the grounds that it would constitute illegal election campaigning, Army Radio reported.

Weinstein’s response on the matter said that it could be not yet be determined whether Netanyahu’s speech will include campaign content and added that the speech’s timing was decided based on external schedules related to the Iranian nuclear issue, and had no relation to the date of elections in Israel.

Despite pressure from some Israeli and US figures, Netanyahu has said he is committed to address US lawmakers on the Iranian threat and the importance of sanctions.

The visit has angered the White House due to the timing and content of the address. US President Barack Obama said he would not meet with Netanyahu in Washington, and several lawmakers, including Vice President Joe Biden, said they would skip the speech. Biden cited unspecified travel plans.

The speech, Weinstein wrote, “has a very clear news value, and therefore when looking to the future and before the speech has been made, one cannot decide that the sheer fact it will take place constitutes illegal election propaganda.”

Weinstein added that the speech is “substantially related to the prime minister’s work and therefore one cannot say it enters the realm of electioneering.”

The attorney general also said that the “speech will deal with important matters relating to Israel’s foreign policy and which hold interest for the public.”

Weinstein further wrote to Gal-On that before leaving the country, Netanyahu will be briefed by the legal counsel at the Prime Minister’s Office on what constitutes illegal electioneering.

Furthermore, media outlets have a free choice on whether to broadcast the speech live or later as an edited version, and if the prime minister does veer toward propaganda, they can choose not to air those parts of the speech.

The address is scheduled to come two weeks ahead of Israel’s March 17 election, but will also precede a Congressional vote scheduled for March 24 on a bill that would impose increased sanctions on Iran should progress not be made on a nuclear deal by the March 31 talks deadline.

The US administration has lobbied vehemently against the measure.