Attorney General Challenges IDF Commander Over Radio Reform Favoring Regional Stations
A legal dispute has erupted between Israel's Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, Communications Minister Shlomo Karai, and Home Front Command Chief Major General Shay Kalper regarding the regulation of regional radio broadcasts and emergency authority powers. The conflict centers on Karai's May 2026 directives to expand broadcasts of certain ultra-Orthodox stations "Kol Barama" and "Kol Chai," owned by businessman Yitzhak Mirelshvili, into northern Israel under emergency powers granted by the Communications Law. These expansions were justified as necessary for delivering emergency alerts to the ultra-Orthodox public using "kosher" devices. However, Baharav-Miara argues in a Supreme Court submission responding to petitions by "Lobby 99" and "Hatzlacha" that these orders exceed legal authority and should be annulled.
The Attorney General criticizes Kalper for yielding to ministerial pressure and accepting raw data without independent verification, thus enabling political manipulation of emergency radio frequencies. She highlights that the Home Front Command initially found no operational need for weekday broadcast expansion, only limited weekend alerts. Kalper reversed this stance after direct talks with Karai, citing unverified figures of approximately 51,000 kosher devices in the north, but Baharav-Miara calls this a "tower of assumptions" lacking factual basis. She stresses that the public broadcaster "Kan" already provides accessible emergency messaging, undermining the claimed security necessity.
Baharav-Miara also condemns the lack of a competitive tender process, noting the economic advantage granted to certain private stations during an election period without sufficient justification. The Attorney General concludes that no concrete security rationale supports the expanded regional licenses and that the emergency powers were improperly applied. The legal challenge seeks to revoke the ministerial orders and restore proper regulatory oversight.
The dispute underscores tensions between political interests, military assessments, and legal standards in managing Israel's emergency communication infrastructure.
