High Court Justice Yitzchak Amit accepted the request of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and issued an interim order on Sunday evening freezing the government’s decision to close Army Radio.

“After considering the issuance of an interim order,” Justice Amit wrote, “and after reviewing the position of the Attorney General’s Office and the government’s response, I have reached the conclusion that the request should be granted.”

The High Court hearing will be conducted before a panel of three justices: liberals Daphne Barak-Erez and Ruth Ronen, who are both known for their judicial activism, and Yechiel Kasher. Following the announcement of the panel, Channel 12 journalist Amit Segal stated wryly, “Don’t worry; the station won’t be closed.”

Barak-Erez is known for telling Attorney Efraim Damari, who represented the Force 100 soldiers falsely accused in the Sde Teiman affair, that “the Military Advocate General is a gatekeeper, and gatekeepers never ‘lie’”—shortly before ex-Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi admitted that she lied to the High Court and deliberately leaked a doctored Sdei Teiman video.

Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi responded, “The government’s decision to close Galei Tzahal stands and remains in force. Justice Amit’s interim order was issued with no legal basis and does not override a government decision. Checks and balances in a democracy must also apply to unlawful moves by the judicial branch.

“The government must act immediately to implement the government’s decision and continue the process of closing the ‘home of the soldiers,’ which over the past two years has continued—according to soldiers’ testimonies—to weaken IDF soldiers—and which, among its other linguistic ‘gems,’ recently eulogized and praised the terror supporter Bakri.”

Earlier on Sunday, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara announced that she supports the High Court issuing an interim order to freeze the government’s decision to close Army Radio and to prevent any action on the matter until a ruling is issued on the petitions filed against the move.

Apart from the fact that Army Radio has deteriorated into a liberal propaganda station, Israel is the only democracy that maintains a military-run radio station competing with civilian news outlets, funded at roughly NIS 52 million annually.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)