Resigned media regulator says minister’s aide pressured her to quit

Dr. Merav Wenig, a filmmaker, researcher, and critic who served on the Second Authority Council, told the High Court of Justice in an affidavit that Elad Zamir, Chief of Staff to Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, tried to persuade her in a manipulative phone call to resign. Wenig said he asked her to keep the conversation secret and stressed that the minister had extended her term. She said she initially refused, telling him she would think it over, then later left a message saying she would not resign, and he replied that he understood and thanked her.

Wenig later did resign, saying the atmosphere in and around the council had become hostile and opaque. She said that after a telephone vote on Sunday, May 31, she received an antagonistic WhatsApp message from one participant, then spoke the next day with two members of the outgoing and incoming councils. After those conversations, she decided to resign from both councils for her own peace of mind.

Only a day later, after learning how many other members had resigned in parallel, Wenig said she realized she had “by force become part of a plot to oust the outgoing council” and that her resignation, because of its timing, was helping an effort she did not want to join. She said she rushed to ask council chair Mordechai Mordechai to cancel her resignation, but Karhi rejected the request.

The High Court is already dealing with the fallout from seven council resignations. Last week, a panel led by Chief Justice Isaac Amit ordered Karhi and the resigning members to provide detailed explanations, including direct answers about the minister’s role in their departures. Karhi argues the resignations deprived the council of a quorum and effectively froze it.

The paralysis has blocked decisions on two major issues, approval of the sale of Reshet 13 and a review of Channel 14’s revenues as a “small” channel. Critics say the crisis stems from Karhi’s efforts to disable the current council, after the court stopped a government attempt to replace it with a new political council headed by Dr. Yifat Ben Hai Sgib, whom Karhi appointed. The Journalists’ Organization petitioned the court, saying the resignations were coordinated and asking either to void them or allow the council to meet without quorum.