Israel's Educational TV channel, partially funded by the taxpayer, teaches viewers a lopsided leftist view and campaigned against the IDF's December Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, according to an Israel Media Watch (IMW) research report.
Responding to several complaints from viewers, the organization examined 17 programs in the Making Order series that were aired between December 12 and January 9, covering two weeks of the Operation Cast Lead war against Gaza terror.
Among 66 discussions and 98 interviews, 21 public and professional figures with a known leftist background appeared on Educational TV compared with only five people with nationalist views.
Former Meretz leader Yossi Beilin appeared five times and dovish Prof. Itamar Rabinowitz was interviewed four times during the month that was monitored.
Although many of the programs were balanced, IMW found several examples of gross imbalance without any debate and with a general bias favoring an early end to Operation Cast Lead.
On December 15, two leftists, Prof. Itamar Rabinowitz and Dr. Ron Pundak, Director-General of the Peres Center for Peace and a member of the Oslo Accords negotiating team, appeared on a program entitled "Let Them Drink Water from Gaza" without any views opposing their stand that there is no need to conquer Gaza.
Two weeks later, three days after the beginning of Operation Cast Lead, Educational TV hosted Beilin and two other dovish personalities who took the position that "enough is enough" and that the government should end the operation. The program did not air any opposing views.
The following day, two views were presented favoring ground operations, but five days afterwards, Beilin and Prof. Rabinowitz returned to rail against the military operations and again were the only studio guests.