Background
The consolidated petitions arose after vacancies left the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation Council without the statutory quorum needed to exercise its powers. In a partial judgment issued on May 12, 2026, the Court held that Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi had unlawfully and without authority removed retired judge Nechama Munitz as chair of the statutory search committee. The Court directed the authorities to complete the appointment process for Aliza Dayan Hamama and for three sitting council members seeking renewed terms: Michal Raphaeli Kaduri, Menachem Ben-Sasson, and Amir Sebhat.
After the Government Companies Law appointments-review committee approved all four candidates, the minister rejected every recommendation. He cited the need to evaluate the council’s overall future composition, alleged defects in the search process, statutory term limits, and a desire for greater turnover. He also asserted candidate-specific objections concerning alleged political or personal connections and the candidates’ professional qualifications. Hatzlacha sought orders invalidating those decisions and requiring the appointments. It later requested an interim extension of CEO Golan Yochpaz’s term because the council lacked the quorum necessary to appoint his successor.
The Court’s Holding
In a unanimous opinion by Justice Ofer Grosskopf, the Court made the orders nisi absolute. It held that the statutory appointment scheme, under which the minister appoints council members “according to” the search committee’s recommendation, gives the minister only narrow discretion. Because the scheme is designed to preserve professional, politically independent public broadcasting, a departure from the committee’s recommendation requires a substantial reason generally concerning the candidate’s professional capabilities. The committee’s recommendation carries nearly decisive weight.
The minister’s general objections did not meet that standard. The statute itself assigns distinct areas of expertise to council seats, permits staggered appointments, and expressly allows one renewed term; it therefore did not support postponing appointments until the council’s entire composition could be assessed or rejecting renewal categorically in the name of diversity. Nor was a new search required for incumbent members seeking renewal. The candidate-specific objections also failed: the appointments-review committee had approved the candidates’ eligibility; Ben-Sasson’s public statements and participation in demonstrations did not, by themselves, constitute disqualifying political activity; the claimed connection between Sebhat and a former minister was unsupported and no longer relevant; Raphaeli Kaduri had the required creative-media experience; and the committee’s mistaken reference to the statutory category applicable to Hamama was a minor procedural error that it corrected.
The Court ordered the minister to sign Hamama’s four-year appointment and the three renewed appointments within seven days, failing which they would take effect by force of the judgment. The renewed four-year terms must be reduced by the time served under interim orders—beginning January 6, 2025, for Raphaeli Kaduri and Ben-Sasson, and July 6, 2025, for Sebhat—so that service does not exceed the statutory two-term limit. Because these appointments would still leave the six-member council one short of its seven-member quorum, the Court also extended Yochpaz’s term until no more than 60 days after the council becomes legally capable of selecting a CEO. It awarded Hatzlacha NIS 30,000 and the corporation NIS 20,000 in additional costs.
Key Takeaways
- The communications minister may depart from the public-broadcasting search committee’s single-candidate recommendation only for a substantial, pertinent reason, generally related to professional competence.
- General appeals to future council composition, procedural concerns, diversity, or renewal limits cannot override the statutory system when those concerns are already addressed by the law.
- The High Court may grant time-limited supplementary relief to prevent administrative paralysis when unlawful appointment decisions leave a statutory body unable to perform essential functions.
Why It Matters
The judgment reinforces the institutional separation between political officeholders and Israel’s public broadcaster. By treating the professional search committee’s recommendation as carrying nearly decisive weight, the Court limited the minister’s ability to block council appointments on generalized or weakly supported grounds.
The decision also addresses the practical consequences of prolonged appointment failures. Even after ordering four appointments, the Court recognized that the council would remain below quorum and used interim relief to prevent the corporation from being left without a functioning chief executive while the remaining vacancies were filled.