Israel’s High Court of Justice on Wednesday blocked Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi’s attempt to derail the sale of most of Reshet 13 to an investor group led by Assaf Rappaport. The court said the outgoing Second Authority for Television and Radio council should remain in place for now and ruled that a resignation gambit engineered around the council would not be counted.
The outlet’s owner, Len Blavatnik, had decided to sell most of his shares in Reshet 13 to Rappaport’s tech group rather than to Patrick Drahi, who owns i24NEWS. Under the law, the transfer must be approved by the council. Karhi, who says his media overhaul is meant to “open the market,” has been accused in the article of trying to block the deal through regulatory pressure and political appointments.
According to the petitioners, Karhi pushed for a new council led by Dr. Yifat Ben Hai Shגב and staffed with figures hostile to the press, but the High Court froze that council and allowed the outgoing body to keep deciding pending litigation. Karhi then sought resignations from outgoing members to deprive the council of a quorum. The court found a “strong suspicion” that the resignations were intended to thwart earlier rulings and obstruct judicial review.
One former member, Dr. Merlin Venig, described pressure from Karhi’s chief of staff, Elad Zmir, and said she later discovered the resignations were taking place in a coordinated way. When she tried to retract her resignation, she says the minister rejected it. After Tuesday’s hearing, the justices said the resigned members would not be counted for quorum purposes, clearing the way for the council to meet and likely approve the transaction. Karhi responded on X that “the High Court is not above the law,” but the article says the maneuver has failed for now.
