Second Authority Council Member Says She Was Pressured to Quit, Then Blocked From Returning

Dr. Marlene Vanig, a member of Israel’s Second Authority for Television and Radio, filed a dramatic affidavit to the High Court of Justice on Sunday, saying she was pressured by Shlomi Karhi’s chief of staff, Elad Zamir, to resign from the outgoing council as part of what she described as a broader effort to remove the sitting members and take control of the new body. Vanig says she later withdrew her resignation after realizing how many council members were quitting, but says Karhi refused to let her return.

Vanig wrote that on May 28, Zamir called her and, in what she called a manipulative conversation, urged her to resign. She said she told him she respected outgoing chair Mordechai Mordechai and would stay if the council was asked to continue. According to Vanig, Zamir kept pressing her and emphasized that the minister had extended her term. She eventually said she would consider it, consulted a lawyer relative in New York, then decided not to resign and left Zamir a message saying so. He replied that he understood.

After a telephone vote in the outgoing council on May 31, Vanig said she received an “hostile WhatsApp message” from one participant and later felt uneasy after speaking with two council members. She decided to resign from both the outgoing and incoming councils to restore “peace of mind,” but reversed herself the next day when she learned seven of the 15 council members had resigned in quick succession. She said she feared her resignation would help “a plan to oust the outgoing council” and make her part of a “conspiracy.” She asked Mordechai to let her withdraw, but Karhi rejected the request.

The affidavit came after a High Court panel led by President Isaac Amit, Justice Alex Stein and Justice Ruth Ronen asked six resigning council members and Karhi to address claims about the resignations and any role played by the minister or his staff. Vanig’s account differs from other resigning members, who submitted affidavits through attorney David Peter saying they left for substantive reasons and did not view Karhi’s push for resignations as improper pressure. The court is set to hear petitions on Tuesday by several watchdog and media groups challenging the March government decision, which they say was rushed through to appoint a new council and chairwoman, Dr. Yifat Ben Haim Segav, an alleged political takeover of the regulator. The petitions also cite Benjamin Netanyahu’s involvement despite his conflict-of-interest arrangement, while Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara backs the petitioners and says the appointments were fatally flawed. An interim order has already frozen the new council’s activity, and the outgoing council was given authority to avoid a regulatory vacuum.