Former Second Authority board member says minister's aide pressured her to quit

Dr. Merlin Vaning, a film creator, researcher and critic, told Israel's High Court of Justice in an affidavit filed Sunday, June 14, that Elad Zamir, chief of staff to Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, tried to persuade her by phone to resign from the outgoing Second Authority for Television and Radio council. Vaning said Zamir used a manipulative tone, asked her to keep the conversation secret, and stressed that Karhi had extended her term. She said she initially declined and told him she would consult others.

Vaning wrote that the call bothered her throughout the day because agreeing to resign after his approach could create a harmful pattern. She said she later left office anyway, after what she described as a tense atmosphere and a lack of transparency. On May 31, she participated in a telephone vote in an outgoing council meeting, then received what she described as an hostile WhatsApp message from one participant. The next day, conversations with two members of the outgoing and incoming councils left her uneasy, and she decided to resign from both bodies for her own peace of mind.

After learning a day later about the broader wave of resignations by other council members, Vaning said she realized, “by force I became part of a plan to topple the outgoing council,” and that her resignation had made her part of a “conspiracy” she did not want to join. She said she quickly asked council chair Mordechai Mordechai to cancel her resignation, but Karhi rejected the request.

The case comes amid a wider crisis at the Second Authority, which regulates commercial broadcasters and is now stalled without a quorum. Last week, a Supreme Court panel headed by President Isaac Amit ordered Karhi and the resigning council members to provide detailed explanations and address directly the minister’s alleged role in their departures. Karhi says the mass resignations left the council effectively frozen. The paralysis is delaying key decisions, including approval of the sale of Reshet 13 and review of Channel 14’s revenues as a “small” channel. The crisis follows a Supreme Court order blocking a government attempt to replace the council with a new political board headed by Dr. Yifat Ben Hai Segav, a Karhi appointee, and returning the outgoing council to work. Seven members resigned in the wave, six of them appointed by Karhi. The Journalists’ Organization has petitioned the court, arguing the resignations were coordinated and not genuine, and asking either to void them or allow the council to act without a quorum.