ISRAEL’S prime minister recently told an American audience that “there is no country in the world where the press is freer [than Israel]. There is no country in the world that attacks its leader more than the Israeli press attacks me. That’s fine. It’s their choice. They are free press and they can say anything they want.” Yet even as Binyamin Netanyahu extols the virtues of a free press and Israel’s democracy abroad he is risking the survival of his governing coalition by trying to take control of parts of the media at home.
The prime minister has embarked on a campaign against Israel’s new public broadcasting corporation, which is scheduled to begin operating on April 30th. Despite having voted three years ago in favour of a law disbanding the old, unwieldy Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA), Mr Netanyahu is now convinced that its replacement threatens his government. He wants to institute controls over the new corporation, to be called Kan (“Here”), although he has still not spelled out precisely what these might entail.
The controversy pitted Mr Netanyahu against his finance minister, Moshe Kahlon, leader of the centrist Kulanu Party....Continue reading
Source: Middle East and Africa http://ift.tt/2olkOU7
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