Miri Regev
Miri RegevFlash 90

The commander of the Army Radio station, Yaron Dekel, has made his first comments on Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev's (Likud) attempts to influence the station's playlist.

In a station-wide e-mail that was published by Globes, Dekel wrote that "In the past few days we have felt a new storm - Transportation Minister Miri Regev's attempt to interfere with the content choices on Army Radio as a public station.

"I am certain that we must be receptive to criticism, both from artists and from public officials. It is from the perspective that we, Army Radio director Nadav Ravid and I, met with the Transportation Minister," he added. "In both of the meetings that took place different ideas were raised - including that we open the station to more Israeli music, which I respect, and that we, of course, want success."

According to Dekel, Regev decided to make her fight public despite the ongoing talks and the station's willingness to accept criticism. "Defense Minister Moshe (Bogie) Ya'alon, has given the station, and me personally, his full support, and on his orders the meeting with Minister [Regev] ended."

He continued: "We expect a challenging period in the near future, which will require us to take action on all levels in order to ensure the station's independence, and to prevent outside forces - political and other - from interfering in our programming. I am firm in my conviction about this.

"It is important that now, as always, we continue to do our professional journalistic work, on both Galei Tzahal and on Galgalatz [two Army radio stations], fearlessly and impartially. This will be our answer to those who wish to weaken us."