‘Distinctly undemocratic’: High Court strikes down government decision to close Army Radio

The High Court of Justice on Thursday struck down the government’s decision to close the Army Radio station, with the judges ruling unanimously that the government was guided by an “improper motive” to interfere in editorial content.

The three-justice panel ruled that it would accept petitions against the measure that the cabinet had approved in December. The ruling makes permanent a February provisional order by the court that halted the closure.

Responding to the ruling on Thursday, Defense Minister Israel Katz slammed the court for “placing its own judgment above that of the elected government ministers, who unanimously believed that there is no place for a civilian radio station with political content within the military.”

The defense minister vowed that the government would tackle the issue once again “when we win” following the upcoming national election.

In separate opinions, justices Daphne Barak-Erez, Alex Stein and Yechiel Kasher wrote that while a decision to close Army Radio is not illegitimate in principle, the evidence showed the government sought to penalize the station for coverage perceived as critical.

Kasher wrote in the ruling that “it’s unconscionable that someone with governing authority will decide that, since they don’t like a broadcaster’s words, the broadcaster’s microphone must be shut off. A government that operates in this manner is distinctly undemocratic.”

Stein, in a concurring opinion, criticized petitioners’ argument that closing Army Radio would be an assault on freedom of expression unless it followed a lengthy and complex process. He said petitioners’ description of a theoretically legitimate way to shut down the 76-year-old station was so byzantine as to be rendered impossible, and is summed up by the lyric “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave,” from the classic Eagles’ song “Hotel California.”

Nonetheless, Stein wrote that it is clear the government acted out of an improper motive to interfere in the station’s coverage, given a memo about the closure that Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi sent Katz railing against Army Radio for subjecting soldiers to content that “not only doesn’t support them, but sometimes harshly criticizes their actions.”

Barak-Erez, in her own concurring opinion, added that the government’s decision to shutter Army Radio was also procedurally flawed, given the “lack of evidentiary basis” for the allegation that Army Radio is biased, as well as the “bias” of the relevant ministers and some committee members they appointed to study closing the station.

Katz announced in November that he would shutter the long-running and immensely popular station due to sentiments from many in the public that “the station does not represent them and even harms the war effort and morale.” Katz added that the operation of a civilian-style broadcaster by the military is “an anomaly unheard of in any democratic country in the world.”

A month later, the cabinet voted unanimously to carry out Katz’s plan, ordering it to wind down operations by March 2026.

But days later the High Court ordered a freeze on the closure, and in February issued a conditional order demanding the government justify the decision.

Katz is not the first defense minister to push for the closure of the station. Successive governments, defense ministers and chiefs of the Israel Defense Forces have for years announced their intentions to remove the broadcaster from under military control and transfer it to civilian oversight, or close it altogether — but such efforts have repeatedly stalled and floundered.

Other coalition figures besides Katz — in particular those who have led efforts to curb the High Court’s powers to overturn government decisions — also reacted with outrage to the decision.

Karhi called on the government to simply ignore the ruling and instead “instruct the defense minister to implement its decision immediately” to shut down Army Radio.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir accused the High Court of “carrying out a coup against democracy and stripping a democratically elected government of its lawful powers.”

Ben Gvir said that his Otzma Yehudit party’s condition for joining the next coalition is “the passage of a full judicial reform” that would establish a “constitutional court.”

Meanwhile, the Movement for Quality Government in Israel and the Union of Journalists in Israel — both of which petitioned the High Court against the government decision — celebrated the ruling on Thursday.

The former called it “an important legal victory for freedom of expression and a free press!” adding that “a government cannot shut down a public broadcaster through a flawed process or for improper considerations.”

And the journalism union said that the justices’ decision showed they accepted the point it argued in court: “You cannot use governmental power to shut down a media outlet because of the content it broadcasts or because its journalism is inconvenient for those in power.”

The union wrote that it is “both possible and appropriate to discuss the future and structure of Army Radio. But an attempt to close a media outlet for political reasons is an attack on freedom of the press and on democracy.”

Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.