Prime Minister Sharon, who assumed ministerial responsibility for the Israel Broadcasting Authority two weeks ago when Minister Raanan Cohen (Labor) retired, has made some new appointments to this body - and some elements in the Labor party are incensed. Labor Party leader Ben-Eliezer even announced an official "coalition crisis," and said that he was freezing all budget talks. MK Ophir Pines was even angrier, calling for an end to all contacts between Labor and Likud.
Chief among the decisions that raised Labor's ire was the ultimatum Sharon issued to Nachman Shai, demanding that he quit one of his two jobs: Chairman of the IBA and Israel Director of the Union of Jewish Communities. Sharon is expected to replace Shai with Likud member Alon Elro'i. In addition, the Cabinet yesterday approved the Prime Minister's nomination of ten new members to the IBA plenum, as well as one addition - Atty. Avraham Melitz, identified with Shas - to the IBA's board of directors.
The Labor Party also demands that Sharon return responsibility for the IBA to Labor. Not all the Labor MKs were equally upset, however. MK Effie Oshaya told Arutz-7's Haggai Seri that the situation is not so serious that it justifies a coalition crisis.
The aforementioned Atty. Melitz, speaking with Arutz-7 today, said,
"The main thing is the Director-General of the IBA. Until recently, this post was held by someone with left-leaning views, and now it will be someone [Yosef Bar'el] with right-leaning views… But what's the big deal? I don't understand why the left is so upset. If the majority of the country has right-wing opinions, as we saw in the last election, should this not be expressed in the country's public broadcasts? Until now what happened was that a vocal minority took over the microphones of the IBA, and did what they wanted! We will of course not silence anyone, but we also refuse to be silenced ourselves."
Arutz-7's Haggai Segal commented:
"Sharon is apparently daring to do what all the left-wing governments did before him: assume full control over the body that runs the public media in the State of Israel. The problem is that we have gotten used to the fact that what is permitted when one party rules is not permitted when the other party is in power. We have become accustomed to right-wing governments hesitating to actualize the mandate given them by the electorate. Governments would come and go, but control over the legal systems and public media always remained with the left-wing. This time, maybe something will change. Maybe."
Chief among the decisions that raised Labor's ire was the ultimatum Sharon issued to Nachman Shai, demanding that he quit one of his two jobs: Chairman of the IBA and Israel Director of the Union of Jewish Communities. Sharon is expected to replace Shai with Likud member Alon Elro'i. In addition, the Cabinet yesterday approved the Prime Minister's nomination of ten new members to the IBA plenum, as well as one addition - Atty. Avraham Melitz, identified with Shas - to the IBA's board of directors.
The Labor Party also demands that Sharon return responsibility for the IBA to Labor. Not all the Labor MKs were equally upset, however. MK Effie Oshaya told Arutz-7's Haggai Seri that the situation is not so serious that it justifies a coalition crisis.
The aforementioned Atty. Melitz, speaking with Arutz-7 today, said,
"The main thing is the Director-General of the IBA. Until recently, this post was held by someone with left-leaning views, and now it will be someone [Yosef Bar'el] with right-leaning views… But what's the big deal? I don't understand why the left is so upset. If the majority of the country has right-wing opinions, as we saw in the last election, should this not be expressed in the country's public broadcasts? Until now what happened was that a vocal minority took over the microphones of the IBA, and did what they wanted! We will of course not silence anyone, but we also refuse to be silenced ourselves."
Arutz-7's Haggai Segal commented:
"Sharon is apparently daring to do what all the left-wing governments did before him: assume full control over the body that runs the public media in the State of Israel. The problem is that we have gotten used to the fact that what is permitted when one party rules is not permitted when the other party is in power. We have become accustomed to right-wing governments hesitating to actualize the mandate given them by the electorate. Governments would come and go, but control over the legal systems and public media always remained with the left-wing. This time, maybe something will change. Maybe."