Gantz denies hand in Army Radio decision to move Netanyahu-backing anchor

Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Monday denied meddling in the Army Radio decision to remove pundit Jacob Bardugo from a primetime slot, in his first comments amid a political firestorm around the move.

Bardugo, a vocal supporter of opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, was removed from duties co-hosting the station’s daily 5 p.m. news show on Thursday. The move was met with an outcry from Netanyahu supporters, who saw it as the state-run station silencing dissent.

Gantz dismissed allegations that he had ordered the move. The station is under the purview of the Defense Ministry.

“I do not and will not touch the scheduling and appointment of broadcasters because I don’t want it connected to politics,” he said at a meeting of his Blue and White faction in the Knesset.

He also denied using Army Radio to advance himself personally or politically, calling the claim “ludicrous.”

“I haven’t been interviewed by the radio station in a year. I didn’t ask for or receive positive coverage,” he said.

Gantz has led a campaign to transfer the popular station out of the Defense Ministry, which currently owns and operates it with both enlisted soldiers and civilian staff.

“It is impossible to accept a situation in which IDF soldiers engage in politics directly or indirectly,” adding that “Army Radio must adhere to the code of ethics that it itself has established.”

He described the push to transfer the station as “complicated.”

In an interview with Channel 13 on Monday, Bardugo accused the station of being under the control of Gantz and his Blue and White party.

He also said that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had offered him the number 3 slot on the Yamina Knesset slate, on two different occasions.

“Politics is not the field that interests me, and in the last election Bennett approached me to be in third place before he brought in Alon Davidi, and I told Bennett that politics is not my field,” he said. “But he is not the only one, and I have received proposals from a variety of parties, including center parties.”

Bardugo was fired by interim commander Galit Alstein, who was appointed by the defense minister.

In response to Bardugo’s removal, the Likud-led flank of the Knesset opposition announced that it would boycott the station and refuse to give it interviews.

However, during a Likud faction meeting on Monday, several MKs said that the boycott will do more harm than good for the party.

“We’re just going to boycott Army Radio for the next six months or year and not get anything out of it in the end,” MK Yuval Steinitz was heard saying in a recording published by Channel 13 news.

Netanyahu was heard telling his fellow lawmakers to urge their followers to listen to right-wing-oriented media outlets.