Israel’s Supreme Court unanimously struck down government decisions appointing Dr. Yifat Ben Hai Segev as chairwoman of the Second Authority for Television and Radio Council, along with attorney Kinneret Barashi and Dr. Haim Shine as council members.
The three-judge panel, headed by Supreme Court President Yitzhak Amit alongside Justices Ruth Ronnen and Alex Stein, ruled that the appointments were marred by administrative flaws, particularly because the appointments committee did not have all relevant information before it.
The government initially approved 15 members of the council on March 24, 2026. Following concerns over Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s involvement, the government held another vote on March 31 without Netanyahu participating.
The conflict-of-interest issue centered on Ben Hai Segev having previously testified in Netanyahu’s criminal trial. The court ruled that Netanyahu’s participation in the original appointment violated the conflict-of-interest arrangement binding him, saying the fact that her testimony ended in 2022 did not eliminate concerns over the appearance of granting a benefit to a witness.
The court also rejected the argument that the second government vote, held without Netanyahu, corrected the problem. Amit wrote that the new vote occurred only days later without any meaningful change in the factual or legal basis on which the appointments were considered.
Regarding Barashi and Shine, the court found that significant information, including previous public statements relevant to potential bias, had not been properly presented to the appointments committee before it issued its recommendations.
The government and council members had argued that the appointments were lawful and that the candidates’ previous comments constituted legitimate public criticism rather than evidence of bias.
The court ultimately canceled the government’s appointment decisions and sent the matter back for renewed consideration by the appointments committee should the communications minister seek to advance the candidates again. Justice Stein noted that there is no barrier to Barashi and Shine being selected again, subject to appropriate conflict-of-interest arrangements.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
