Justice Ministry: PM can’t deal with Communications Ministry issues that affect his associates

The Justice Ministry clarifies Prime Minister Netanyahu is barred from dealing with issues in the communications field that affect his associates, in an apparent rebuke of the premier.

The statement comes a day after Channel 13 news aired a recording from late 2017 in which Netanyahu can be heard directing matters at the Communications Ministry, even though he resigned as head of the ministry earlier that year due to a corruption investigation into his dealings with media outlets.

“Even after his resignation as communications minister, it was clarified that owing to his position as prime minister, Netanyahu is permitted to deal with issues pertaining to various government ministries, including the Communications Ministry, and the fact that he no longer serves as communications minister does not rule out his involvements in the field of communications in his role as prime minister,” the Justice Ministry statement says.

It adds that Netanyahu’s dealings with the media are still bound by a conflict of interest agreement that bars him from dealing with the issues that concern Bezeq controlling shareholder Shaul Elovitch, whose ties with the prime minister are at the center of one of three graft cases the premier is a suspect in.

In the recording, Netanyahu can be heard demanding from then-communications minister Ayoub Kara to shutter the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Council, the public body that oversees cable and satellite stations in Israel.

The council also oversees the satellite television provider Yes. Netanyahu is suspected of having pushed former Communications Ministry director general Shlomo Filber to approve a merger of Yes with telecom giant Bezeq, a development that eventually went through, earning Elovitch hundreds of millions of dollars.

Netanyahu can also be heard in the recording demanding that Kara “save” the right-wing Channel 20, which lost its bid to produce, manage, and broadcast the Knesset channel following a court appeal by competitors in late 2017.