Supreme Court Overturns Government Appointments to Media Council

Israel's Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Tuesday to cancel government decisions appointing Dr. Yifat Ben-Haim Segav as chairwoman of the Second Authority for Television and Radio Council, and Adv. Kineret Brashi and Dr. Haim Shine as council members. President Isaac Amit, Justice Alex Stein, and Justice Ruth Ronen accepted the petitions against the three appointments.

By a majority decision, the court also ruled that the government's decisions would be canceled and that the cases of all council members would be returned for review by the Committee for Examining Appointments, should the Communications Minister wish to advance their candidacies again. The government had decided in March to appoint 15 members to the Second Authority Council. Following claims of conflict of interest by the Prime Minister, due to Ben-Haim Segav being a witness in his criminal trial, a second vote was held without Netanyahu's participation. The government emphasized at the time that this vote was intended to 'prevent lip service' and did not harm the original decision.

President Amit determined that Netanyahu violated the conflict of interest arrangement he is bound by. He stated that the fact Ben-Haim Segav's testimony concluded in 2022 does not negate the arrangement's applicability, which is intended to prevent even the appearance of granting a 'favor' to a witness after their testimony ends. It was also determined that the advancement of her appointment to the agenda was done with the Prime Minister's personal approval. The repeat vote, held a few days later without Netanyahu but with no change in the factual or legal basis, did not rectify the flaw.

Regarding Brashi and Shine, the court found that numerous relevant data points concerning their candidacies were not presented to the Committee for Examining Appointments. Among other issues, the committee did not examine their public statements against media bodies they were expected to supervise. Amit stressed that given the Second Authority Council's broad oversight powers, harsh and repeated statements against bodies under its supervision are a factor that must be examined when selecting its members. Justice Ronen joined Amit's position. Justice Stein agreed with the cancellation of the appointments for Ben-Haim Segav, Brashi, and Shine, but opposed returning the cases of the other council members to the committee. He added that there is no impediment to re-appointing Brashi and Shine, subject to appropriate conflict of interest arrangements.