[NYTr] No to Settler Radio: Gush Shalom Goes to Court

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Gush Shalom - Oct 14, 2007
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/archive/1192376389

NO TO SETTLER RADIO - Gush Shalom appeals to the Supreme Court

Gush Shalom asks the court to halt government plans for creation of a
so-called “regional radio” for settlers. As a cover-up for legalizing a
settler pirate radio station (Arutz-7) a tender was issued by the
government on the basis of military decrees which threaten basic
democratic principles.

The Supreme Court was requested to issue a temporary order halting all
the tender procedures pending final verdict.

The appeal, lodged on behalf of Gush Shalom by advocates Gabi Lasky and
Smadar Ben Nathan, is aimed at the Minister of Communications, at the
Second Broadcasting Authority and its chair Nurit Dabush, and at the
commander of IDF forces on the West Bank. Gush Shalom asks the judges
to order all of these to show cause why they would not abrogate the
radio station tenders themselves and seriously faulty legal documents
on whose basis the tender was issued. Specifically, Gush Shalom takes
issue with the clause expressly permitting the former operators of
pirate radio stations to present themselves as candidates for operating
the new legal one. Gush Shalom also asks the Supreme Court for a
temporary order halting all the tender procedures pending final verdict.

The settler radio tender was published on August 2 this year, following
intensive lobbying and years-long pressures by extreme-right Knesset
Members, ever since the settler pirate station Arutz 7 was closed by
court order. The final date given for presenting candidatures to the
tender is Thursday this week (October 18). The Minister of
Communications, a member of the Ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, coupled this
tender with a tender for operating a radio station aimed at "The
Torah-Observant Sephardi Public", which is plainly aimed at legalizing
the so-called "Holy Channels", the pirate radio stations allied to the
Shas Party. An appeal against that tender was already lodged some weeks
ago.

In its appeal Gush Shalom notes that The West Bank ("Judea and Samaria"
as the tender calls it) is an Occupied Territory under International
Law, in which the Geneva Conventions determine what an occupying army
may and may not do. Under these rules, the IDF should be primarily
concerned with the well being of the local population, i.e. the
Palestinians. It should be none of the army's concern to create a radio
station serving only and solely the interests of Israeli citizens who
have chosen to settle in this Occupied Territory.

Also from the point of view of Israeli law the legal manoeuvres enacted
in order to make possible the creation of a "regional radio" for the
settlers raise serious constitutional issues, sufficient reason for
them to be abolished.

The Second Broadcasting Authority is an Israeli statutory institute,
legally empowered with issuing permits for regional radio stations
within Israeli sovereign territory. It is under the authority of the
Minister of Communications. In order to extend the power of the Second
Authority and of the minister into an Occupied Territory which is not
part of Israel, and enable the issuing of a permit for a settler radio
station, an unprecedented military decree was issued under which it is
the military commander who delegates power to the civilian minister.

This is in complete contradiction to the basic rules of democracy,
where the civilian government draws its authority from the elected
Knesset, and it is this government which delegates power to its
subordinate military commanders. This novel legal situation, where the
army is placed in the position of being the fount of authority and of
delegating some of this authority to a civil minister, is a most
dangerous and pernicious precedent, with implications far beyond the
specific issue of the settler radio. It is the duty of the Supreme
Court to abolish it forthwith and completely.

The Gush Shalom appeal specifically refers to the clause in the tender
authorizing the operators of pirate radio stations to participate,
provided they had ceased operation until the day when it was issued.
This clause in effect rewards law-breakers, who get a big headstart
compared with other contestants - having gained experience and
technical ability through their illegal activity. Specifically, it is
clear that "Arutz 7", the pirate station which distinguished itself by
poisonous incitement against the late Prime Minster Rabin in the period
immediately preceding his assassination, is the leading and most likely
winner among contestants for operating the new "regional radio".
Judging from past experience, if and when the government at last takes
up its duty to dismantle the manifestly illegal "settlement outposts",
there is a great likelihood that the "regional radio" will be used to
mobilize the "Youth of the Hills" and other settler thugs to arrive at
the spot and violently resist the dismantling.

A "regional radio station", of the settlers and by the settlers, would
by definition be a political radio station which would support the
settlement project, in all its broadcasts and in its very essence.
Moreover, the definition "a regional radio station" is in itself
misleading. A radio station covering the West Bank will inevitably
cover Jerusalem and all communities around Jerusalem. A broadcast
strong enough to reach such settlements as Elkana and Oranit on the
western edge of the West Bank would also be audible throughout
metropolitan Tel Aviv. And transmitters such as Arutz 7 frequently used
as a pirate station could carry the broadcasts also to Haifa and Be’er
Sheba. In short, the great majority of Israel’s population would be
exposed to these broadcasts.

Like any other Israeli citizen, settlers have the right to express
their views. But also the democratic expression of despicable views in
favour of occupation and oppression must be carried out on a level
playing field. This "regional radio" would create a manifest inequality
in the balance of political and media forces among Israeli citizens.
Only one political camp, the Extreme Right, would have a political and
ideological radio station of its own, while other parts of the
political spectrum will be denied that possibility. Basic equity
requires that, should a permit for a radio station be granted to the
settlers and their supporters, that a similar permit also be granted
for a radio station of the opponents of the settlements, a station
whose broadcasts would call for their dismantling and for the
evacuation of all Occupied Territories. Also, a still third radio
station should also be given a permit, to reflect the positions of the
political centre which supports the dismantling of some settlements and
the retention of others. If technical considerations make impossible
the creation of so many political radio stations, then the settlers'
extreme-right station should most definitely not be allowed to come
into being.