High Court freezes new Second Authority board appointment and accuses Karhi camp of trying to obstruct it

Israel’s High Court of Justice issued an interim order on Wednesday freezing the government’s decision to appoint a new board for the Second Authority for Television and Radio, including the planned chair, Dr. Yifat Ben Hai-Sheleg. Until a final ruling is issued on the petitions, the outgoing board will continue to serve in its current composition.

In an unusually sharp decision, President Isaac Amit, Justice Alex Stein and Justice Ruth Ronen said the record suggested a serious attempt to evade judicial review. They wrote that the ministers’ and resigning board members’ affidavits created a “grave suspicion” that the resignations were intended “only to frustrate prior decisions issued by us in this proceeding, while obstructing this Court’s ability to examine all the arguments raised.”

The judges also pointed to what they described as direct involvement by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, or people acting on his behalf, in the resignations, including direct outreach to resigning board members. They highlighted the “puzzling timing” between the resignations and the Court’s earlier rulings. The court said most of the resigning members quit only the outgoing board, while insisting on their right to serve on the incoming board promoted by Karhi, behavior that, on its face, does not align with the duty of loyalty under Section 13 of the Second Authority Law.

To prevent what it saw as a deliberate effort to paralyze the authority and bypass the interim order, the Court took the unusual step of ruling that the resigning members will not be counted for purposes of board composition, quorum, or decisions on the outgoing board. The justices said this was necessary so the board could not be “deliberately disrupted and paralyzed” during the interim period. They added that, given the urgency and sensitivity, the final judgment will be delivered as soon as possible. Karhi had not responded by the time of publication.