Kahlon says coalition crisis over new broadcaster is ‘all spin’

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon dismissed talk of early elections as “all spin,” amid what to all appearances seemed like an escalating political crisis over the launch of a new public broadcasting agency next month.

Speaking at a finance industry conference in Tel Aviv, Kahlon said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s threat to call early elections was a violation of an agreement reached between the two men to establish the new broadcaster.

“The last agreement [with the prime minister] was that the broadcaster will be founded by the communications law [of 2014], and I don’t know of any other agreement. I haven’t heard anything else from Netanyahu since last Friday. We haven’t spoken since,” he said. The prime minister is currently on a state visit to China.

The new broadcaster would be established on time, Kahlon promised.

On Saturday night, Netanyahu sent shock waves through the political establishment, including the leadership of his own party, when he said that he no longer supported the founding of the broadcaster — set up through a law passed by his previous government in 2014 and slated to replace the old Israel Broadcasting Authority — and that he was willing to topple the government and go to elections to prevent its establishment.

Kahlon protested the following day that the new broadcasting corporation, called Kan, is already in place, has hired hundreds of employees, including over half of the employees of the outgoing IBA, and was due to begin broadcasting on April 30. To cancel it so late in the game would mean the loss of hundreds of millions of shekels to the public purse.

Netanyahu’s chief criticism of the new broadcaster is that it will be too independent of the political echelon. A bill being written in the Communications Ministry at Netanyahu’s orders would grant the minister of communications — a post held by Netanyahu himself until he appointed confidant Tzachi Hanegbi in his stead in February — the power to directly appoint the CEO and chairperson of the government’s media oversight agency.

On Monday, reports from sources close to Netanyahu and Kahlon said a compromise was in the works that would see the current top management of the new broadcaster — long criticized by Netanyahu as “left-wing” — replaced. But early on Tuesday, officials negotiating in Netanyahu’s name, including Tourism Minister Yariv Levin and coalition chairman MK David Bitan, received word from the prime minister that he opposed all compromises that left the new corporation intact.

Israeli media also reported Monday that the corporation’s decision to hire veteran news anchor Geula Even has stiffened Netanyahu’s resolve to oppose the body even more. Even is married to Gideon Sa’ar, a former interior and education minister and a rising star in the Likud Party until he resigned from political life in 2014. Sa’ar is widely expected to return to the Knesset at some point, possibly to compete against Netanyahu to become prime minister.

On Tuesday, Kahlon questioned the veracity of the original reports of a compromise, telling the Tel Aviv conference he was not familiar with the demand to fire the heads of the broadcaster.

He also said the leaks to the press were mostly incorrect, including those allegedly coming from sources close to him. “[Apparently] I have more ‘sources close to me’ than actual voters,” he quipped.

Israeli media reported Monday that the corporation’s decision to hire veteran news anchor Geula Even has stiffened Netanyahu’s resolve to oppose the body even more.

Netanyahu’s threat sent his coalition into turmoil, including ministers in his own party who have been coming out publicly against new elections.

Voters “won’t forgive Likud if we go to elections because of the broadcaster, as important as it is,” Social Equality Minister Gila Gamliel warned Tuesday morning.

“We have to think long and hard before going to elections, or we might find ourselves in the opposition,” she told Army Radio.

Likud officials have warned in recent days that the ruling party stood a good chance of losing a new election, as the current crisis would likely lose it the support of Kahlon’s party in any future coalition talks, while poll favorite Yesh Atid would be able to piece together a coalition with both right- and left-wing parties.

“The view within Likud, including the prime minister, is clear: We’re not interested in elections,” Science Minister Ofir Akunis told Army Radio. He called on Kulanu ministers led by Kahlon “to climb down off the high tree they climbed.”

The new broadcaster, “in its current form, will not launch on April 30,” vowed Akunis, a former communications minister.