Israel’s High Court overturns three appointments over Netanyahu’s breach of conflict-of-interest arrangement
Israel’s High Court of Justice on September 8 overturned the appointments of three senior officials to the council of the Second Authority, the body that regulates commercial television and regional radio broadcasting, including Channels 12 and 13 and their news companies.
Appointments overturned
The court unanimously annulled the appointment of Dr. Yifat Ben-Hai Segev as chair of the council, as well as attorney Kinneret Barashi and Dr. Haim Shine as council members. The judges concluded that the appointments committee had not received information necessary for the proper review of two candidates.
As The Jerusalem Post reports, the government approved 15 council members on March 24. Five petitions were subsequently filed challenging the appointment procedure and, in particular, the candidacies of Ben-Hai Segev, Barashi, and Shine.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
Decision on the composition of the council
Court President Yitzhak Amit and Justice Ruth Ronen ruled that if Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi advances these candidacies again, the appointments committee must reconsider the entire composition of the council. Justice Alex Stein did not support extending this decision to the other council members.
Netanyahu’s involvement
The court also found that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had breached the conflict-of-interest avoidance arrangement governing his actions as a defendant in criminal proceedings. Ben-Hai Segev was a prosecution witness in Netanyahu’s Case 4000. The prime minister personally approved adding the issue of her appointment to the government’s agenda and took part in the first discussion and vote.
