Israel’s Supreme Court halts gov’t plan to shut down Army Radio pending a final hearing

In the latest clash between the government and the judicial system, Israel’s Supreme Court on Sunday ordered a halt to the planned closure of the military broadcaster Galatz (Army Radio).

Supreme Court Chief Justice Yitzhak Amit issued the interim injunction after the radio station’s workers’ committee had filed a petition against the government’s unanimous decision to shut down the radio station last week.

Israeli governments have considered closing Army Radio for decades, due to high costs as well as the unusual situation where a military broadcaster is among the nation’s most popular stations, broadcasting not just music, but also news and political analysis.

In his decision, Amit wrote that “the government decision should be frozen in all its implications, until a further decision” is made in a full hearing by the court.

He said that this was because “the government’s response did not include an explicit commitment to refrain from irreversible actions until the legal proceedings are concluded.”

Defense Minister Israel Katz had ordered the immediate halt of recruitment to the unit and instructed that soldiers currently serving there, both in regular and reserve service, be reassigned to other IDF units.

Embattled Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, once again, opposed the government’s plans, citing concerns over “the inevitable harm to freedom of expression that would result from closing the station.”

She argued in a legal opinion that “there is a serious concern that the closure of the station constitutes a goal that was marked in advance. This concern is reinforced in light of the significant question marks that arise regarding the factual and professional basis laid by the advisory committee to support its recommendations.”

The committee didn’t “genuinely consider alternative options that had been recommended in the past, to minimize the inevitable harm to freedom of expression that would result from closing the station, because it approached the examination of alternatives under the assumption that ‘a connection between the people’s army and political disputes is a contradiction that cannot be reconciled,’ as the committee declared,” the A-G said.

In explaining the government’s rationale for closing the station, Defense Minister Katz had argued that “The situation in which a radio station intended for all citizens of Israel is operated by the military is an anomaly that does not exist in democratic countries. This anomaly creates significant difficulties for the IDF, as it forces the army, against its will, into political discourse. The station’s involvement in political content harms the Israel Defense Forces, its soldiers, and its unity.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had noted that the existence of a radio station broadcasting under the army’s authority was a situation “that perhaps exists in North Korea,” but wasn’t suitable for Israel.