Israel’s Supreme Court, sitting as a three-judge panel, heard five petitions on Tuesday challenging the appointment of a political council to the Second Authority for Television and Radio, headed by Dr. Iffat Ben Hai Shagav. The case centers on reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended the government session and voted for her appointment, even though she is a prosecution witness in Case 4000.
The court noted that Netanyahu’s participation appeared to violate the conflict-of-interest arrangement he signed, which bars him from dealing with the communications market and with matters involving witnesses connected to his trial. Justice Alex Stein said, “As long as the trial has not ended, she is still a prosecution witness. As long as the trial is ongoing, the prime minister is not allowed to deal with the matter. Sometimes rules must be followed properly.” He added, “As long as the trial has not ended, no contact with prosecution witnesses may be created.”
Netanyahu’s lawyer, Amit Hadad, replied that the matter might have been avoided had the attorney general’s office not been ignored when it asked the government to wait. “What was the rush?” he asked. “We were in the middle of a war. Maybe if we had waited for the opinion, we would not be here.”
The hearing also addressed claims that Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi pressured members of the council to resign after the High Court froze the government’s appointments and restored the outgoing council headed by Mordechai. A representative of the attorney general said this was “an unprecedented event,” alleging that the minister, through his aide, contacted council members, persuaded and induced them to resign in order to undermine the judicial ruling. The representative described Karhi’s conduct as extremely severe and said it effectively neutralized the court order, calling it behavior that “undermines the rule of law and respect for judicial decisions.”
