The High Court of Justice on Tuesday canceled the appointments of three senior members of the Second Authority Council, ruling that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu violated his conflict-of-interest agreement and that the appointments committee had not received the information needed to properly examine two of the candidates.
All three justices agreed to void the appointment of Dr. Yifat Ben Hay-Segev as council chairwoman and those of attorney Kinneret Barashi and Dr. Haim Shine as members.
President Isaac Amit and Justice Ruth Ronnen went further, ordering that the entire council slate return to the appointments committee for renewed examination if Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi wishes to advance the candidates again. Justice Alex Stein opposed extending the remedy to the remaining council members.
The decision sends the government back to the beginning of the appointment process for the body that regulates Israel’s commercial television and regional radio broadcasters, including channels 12 and 13 and their news companies.
The government approved 15 council members on March 24. Five petitions were subsequently filed challenging the process and, in particular, the appointments of Ben Hay-Segev, Barashi, and Shine.
Netanyahu acted in breach of the conflict-of-interest
The court found that Netanyahu acted in breach of the conflict-of-interest arrangement governing his conduct as a criminal defendant when he became involved in Ben Hay-Segev’s appointment.
Ben Hay-Segev was a prosecution witness in Netanyahu’s Case 4000 trial. Netanyahu personally approved placing her appointment on the cabinet agenda and participated in the initial discussion and vote.
