Row over public broadcaster hits Israel coalition

The future of Israel's public broadcaster is at the heart of a fierce political battle over control of the media, pitting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against his own cabinet.

Netanyahu and his finance minister, Moshe Kahlon, have been locking horns for weeks in a dispute analysts said could even bring down the government.

The conflict focuses on one of the most bitter quarrels in the government since it was formed in March 2015: the fate of the Israel Broadcasting Authority, an offshoot of the historic Kol Yisrael radio which broadcast the first hours of the State of Israel in 1948.

Millions of Israelis have grown up with the IBA, viewing their first colour images on its television channel, and it remains the home of some of Israel's best known media figures.

Nearly 70 years later, it has emerged as a major media power -- with a leading TV channel and eight radio stations in multiple languages.

But two years ago a plan was launched to replace it with a new body, officially with the aim of revitalising public broadcasting so it can compete with private channels.

Critics argued the licence fee model for television was outdated and suggested replacing IBA with a new Public Broadcasting Corporation (PBC).

Kahlon supports the plan as did Netanyahu initially.

Yet the minister has since made an about-face, despite the fact hundreds of IBA employees have already left, with many joining the PBC, which has offices ready to open on January 1.

Speaking in parliament Monday, he said the government would "rehabilitate" the public broadcaster in a "fiscally responsible" way.

Netanyahu was allegedly planning to approve cancelling the creation of the PBC on Sunday but Kahlon refused, causing, at least temporarily, a rare setback for Netanyahu.

In a compromise agreement, a committee was formed to find a way forward in the next three weeks.

- Media war -

Ilan Greilsammer, professor of political science at Bar Ilan University, said many felt public broadcasting was in need of reform.

"For some time, its critics felt the public broadcaster, in addition to being a financial black hole, suffered from nepotism, even corruption, and a lack of inspiration," said Greilsammer.

But, he added, right wingers and particularly Netanyahu saw it as a convenient way to get rid of critical journalists working in the public sphere.

The media is one of the few areas where the Israeli left is still powerful.

Critics say Netanyahu, often seen as hung-up on the media and its perceived hostility, has realised the journalists the reform was supposed to sideline have been rehired in the new company and that potential opponents have taken key positions.

"Netanyahu has been convinced since his first term (in 1996) that the media is against him," a senior Israeli official said on condition of anonymity.

Netanyahu himself has not explained his reversal.

But he has not denied or condemned the controversial statement Israeli media reported his Culture Minister Miri Regev as saying in July.

"It's inconceivable that we'll establish a corporation that we won't control. What's the point?" Regev was quoted as saying.

Kahlon, a former member of Netanyahu's Likud party who formed his own centrist party, has stressed the substantial amounts of taxpayers' money already invested in the reform, estimated at least 400 million Israel shekels ($104 million, 94 million euro).

Though there were no official forced redundancies, about 500 employees of the IBA's employees have left or been pushed out the door, leaving around 1,050, Ahiya Genossar, president of the National Union of Israeli Journalists, told AFP.

The PBC has hired about 400 employees, almost half of them previously from the IBA.

Netanyahu heads a coalition government with a thin majority of 67 seats in the 120-member parliament, including 10 from Kahlon's Kulanu.

But the dissolution of the government and early elections -- which Kahlon has threatened if Netanyahu overrules him -- are unlikely, analysts say.

But Ben Caspit, a commentor at Maariv newspaper and prominent Netanyahu critic, said Thursday that for the first time since the 2015 elections, "the brakes have been put on the prime minister... a substantial, significant adversary was suddenly discovered."

Source: AFP