High Court annuls government’s appointments to broadcast regulator

The High Court of Justice unanimously annuls the government’s appointment for chairman of the Second Authority commercial broadcasting regulator, Yifat Ben Hai Segev, as well as the appointment of two other members of the body, in a case that has generated a near-constitutional crisis between the court and the government.

Petitions were filed in March this year arguing that the appointment of Ben Hai Segev violated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conflict of interest agreement regarding his trial, since she was a witness in those proceedings.

It was also argued that the appointment of Kinneret Barashi and Haim Shein, both outspoken supporters of the government, was done improperly, without proper review of their candidacies, and was illegitimate since they have strongly criticized in public some of the media outlets that they would now have regulatory power over.

The High Court in its ruling agrees with these arguments and orders the appointments annulled.

Although only three appointments to the 15-member panel were annulled by the court, the court says that all new appointments made by the government to the Second Authority in March this year should now be reconsidered.

The fight over the membership of the Second Authority centers around a proposed buyout of Channel 13 by a group of tech entrepreneurs, headed by a prominent critic of the government, which the council must approve.

Organizations that petitioned the High Court against the government, including the Union of Journalists in Israel and the Movement for Quality Government, allege that Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi and the government have tried to assert political control over the council to thwart the buyout.

After the High Court issued a ruling designed to thwart further efforts by Karhi to influence the composition of the Second Authority, the government passed an unprecedented resolution saying it would “not recognize” the results of any decision made by the agency regarding Channel 13 under the terms of the court decision.

Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs later asserted that ministers had not said they would disobey the High Court, but had merely expressed their “sharp criticism” of it.

Ben Hai Segev announced in July that she had resigned from the position, since the High Court had frozen the operations of the Second Authority in May and she had been unable to start work.