AG says High Court should freeze closure of Army Radio until final ruling

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara tells the High Court of Justice that the court should freeze the implementation of a government decision to shut down Army Radio until the court makes a final ruling on the matter.

Because of the “sensitivities and complexity” of shutting down Army Radio, a public broadcaster run by the IDF, legal principles dictate halting the station’s closure, says a response written by the State Attorney’s Office expressing Baharav-Miara’s position.

According to the response, the attorney general believes the petitions seeking to keep Army Radio open will be accepted because there were procedural and substantive flaws in the government’s decision-making process to close the station, which the cabinet was informed of ahead of time.

Last week the cabinet voted to close Army Radio, arguing that the station’s political and current affairs programming “creates a fundamental difficulty for the IDF, stemming from the IDF’s involuntary involvement in political discourse,” and that its content “harms the Israel Defense Forces, its soldiers and its unity.”

Petitions were swiftly filed against the decision, arguing that the decision was made in order “to harm media outlets seen as critical of the government” and to “economically benefit the owners of media outlets close to the government.”

The High Court said a date would be set for a hearing on the petitions before the end of January. The government intends to fully close the station down by March 1.