DID Press: Israel’s attorney general has declared that the Netanyahu government’s order to sever all ties between state institutions and the newspaper Haaretz lacks legal basis and must be revoked.
Gali Baharav-Miara submitted this position to Israel’s Supreme Court in response to petitions filed by the Haaretz media group and the Israeli Journalists’ Union.
According to the attorney general, even the government’s “declarative” decision regarding Haaretz faces “serious legal challenges.” She stressed that the suspension of government advertising, directives to ministry directors-general to halt ads, and the cancellation of subscriptions were not taken “in a vacuum” and must be assessed within a broader legal and constitutional context.
Baharav-Miara wrote that these measures amount to “a series of government decisions across different sectors aimed at restricting criticism or media content deemed undesirable by officials.” Alongside the move against Haaretz, she cited the Netanyahu government’s decision to shut down Army Radio and efforts to close the news division of the public broadcaster Kan.
The Netanyahu government, however, claims that Haaretz “supported the enemy during wartime, harmed the Israeli army and war effort, called for military disobedience, accused the army of genocide, and damaged Israel’s international standing by backing sanctions and the International Criminal Court.”
The case is now under review by Israel’s Supreme Court, with the ruling expected to carry significant implications for press freedom and the government’s relationship with critical media outlets.