Israel's Supreme Court Overturns TV Council Appointments, Cites Conflict of Interest

Israel's Supreme Court unanimously annulled three appointments to the Second Authority for Television and Radio Council on Tuesday, ruling that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu violated his conflict of interest agreement. The court also decided, by a majority vote, to send the cases of all council members back for review if the Communications Minister wishes to re-nominate them.

The appointments of Dr. Yifat Ben-Haimovich as Council Chair, and Adv. Kineret Brashi and Dr. Haim Shine as members, were voided unanimously. President Isaac Amit stated that Netanyahu's involvement in Ben-Haimovich's appointment constituted a breach of his conflict of interest agreement, as she had testified in his criminal trial. Amit emphasized that the agreement aims to prevent even the appearance of impropriety, even after the testimony concluded.

The court found that Netanyahu personally approved placing the appointment on the government's agenda. A subsequent government vote, held without Netanyahu's participation after conflict of interest concerns were raised, did not rectify the initial flaw, according to the court. The government had stated the second vote was to avoid "lip service" and not to alter its original decision.

Regarding Brashi and Shine, the court determined that the appointments committee lacked crucial information, including public statements made by the candidates criticizing media outlets they would oversee. While the court did not rule these statements disqualifying in themselves, it deemed them relevant information that should have been presented to the committee. Consequently, the government's decisions based on the committee's recommendations were deemed flawed.

Justice Ruth Ronen concurred with President Amit's ruling. Justice Alex Stein agreed to void the three appointments but disagreed with sending the other council members' cases for review, suggesting Brashi and Shine could be re-appointed with appropriate conflict of interest arrangements.