The High Court of Justice issued a temporary injunction on Sunday ordering that the activities of the Second Authority commercial broadcasting regulatory body be frozen pending a further decision, due to recent changes made to the agency’s composition that are the subject of petitions to the court.

Justice Alex Stein reprimanded the government and the communications minister for failing to file their responses to the petitions on time, after the court granted repeated extension requests to the government. The court turned down a further extension request made earlier on Sunday, four days after the latest deadline expired.

Stein called the latest extension request “unacceptable” and ordered that the petitions be heard “as quickly as possible” by a three-judge panel.

The Union of Journalists in Israel as well as the Movement for Quality Government and other organizations petitioned the High Court in March after the government made several controversial appointments to the Second Authority.

Among those appointed were Yifat Ben Hai Segev — a former chair of the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Council who had also served on the advisory board for Channel 13 — as chair of the Second Authority council.

Ben Hai Segev was also a witness for the prosecution in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s criminal trial, but reversed her testimony in court in 2022 from what she had originally told investigators before the premier was indicted in 2020.

Along with Segev, the government appointed two outspoken supporters of Netanyahu to the council, Kinneret Barashi and Haim Shein.

Stein noted in his tersely worded order that the Second Authority is continuing to function and operate, while at the same time pointing out that the government had continued to file repeated extension requests for filing its response to the petitions.

A battle for Channel 13 and the larger media landscape

The controversy over the leadership of the Second Authority for Television and Radio is taking place as the body weighs a key decision on the future ownership of Channel 13, which it regulates in addition to channels 12 and 14, as well as against the backdrop of the government’s........

© The Times of Israel