Army Radio is ‘critical democratic tool’: Herzog urges Katz to reconsider closure

President Isaac Herzog comes out against Defense Minister Israel Katz’s decision to shutter Army Radio, saying that while improvements to the station are welcome, closing it down entirely would be a mistake.

“To fix yes, to destroy no,” Herzog says in a statement. “By closing a media outlet, and particularly a public media outlet, we are not just shutting down a channel but a window to the public.”

“When voices are erased, we not only lose a frequency but a dialogue as well,” continues the president. “We can make repairs, but we cannot completely erase a critical democratic tool.”

A source close to Katz, in response to Herzog, says that if the president is truly a “radio station enthusiast,” then he is welcome to set one up in the President’s Residence.

“The Israeli government alone will make decisions, in accordance with its authority, regarding the closure of Army Radio,” the source says.

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.