Will the Leftist Monopoly Over Israeli News Ever End? As If!

י"ז לחודש האחד עשר תשע"ו

Arutz 7: Leftist Monopoly over TV News is About to End
Filber Committee hands in recommendations that will allow conservatives to establish a TV channel and broadcast non-PC news.

Gil Ronen, 1/25/2016

A governmental committee has handed in recommendations that will end the leftist monopoly over news content on Israeli television.

The inter-ministerial committee under Communications Ministry Director Shlomo Filber has recommended – according to multiple news reports Monday – to end the situation in which the only channels broadcasting news are Channels 2 and 10.

Implementation of the recommendations will open up the communications market to competition and allow, among other things, an Israeli "Fox News" – that is, one or more channels that provide news content that is not liberal-leftist in nature. (cont.)

Esser Agaroth (2¢):
HA! HA! What a joke!

Sure, way back when, Arutz 7 was an alternative voice. Raid after raid by the police, the station's founders continually demonstrated their sacrifices, including being jailed.

Now, Arutz 7 is a completely different animal, desperately trying to keep its head above water, and allowing this to guide its quasi-journalistic path. One day it is an apparent advocate for Torah-based principles, albeit these instances have become increasingly few and far between, if at all. Then the next day, the combination station/website/Hebrew print weekly turns its back on Torah-observant Jews, and their sacrifices for the sake of protecting their religious rights, as well as protecting Eretz Yisra'el (the Land of Israel), feigning "journalistic objectivity."

And, I'm not even talking about their chumminess with Christians, and apparent refusal to print anything counter to the opinions of the father and son Rabbis Melamed.

Needless to say, when I was contacted to be interviewed by Arutz 7 (for the third time), I declined.

In a nutshell, Arutz 7 was a great idea, which went horribly wrong.

And speaking of great ideas, which went horribly wrong...

Enter David Horowitz's Times Of Israel. Many of us thought that this would be the platform to get the message of truth out regarding the Leftist control of the State of Israel, its government's co-dependence on the "international community, and a variety of flaws worthy of criticism. Boy, were we wrong!

I vaguely remember that praise for the late Prime Minister Yitzhaq Rabin, from Horowitz himself, was the last straw. But, in the end, there was so much crap included in TOI, that it was difficult for me to pinpoint TOI's greatest sin.

I only had one post refused for publishing, too, "The War in Gaza: What did it accomplish?" That was hardly a grievance. TOI staff claimed that it violated one of its policies:

[Post should] ...not incite to acts of violence or promote hatred based on race, gender or sexual preference

Apparently, criticism of Hamas for firing missiles at us did not sit well with TOI. Yet, remembering this policy, I even made a point of differentiating between Hamas and Fata"h. (Fata"h did not happen to be firing missiles at us, at the time.) As both of these terrorist groups are Arab, how could they even call this post racist? Anyway, I finally had to request that TOI delete my account. TOI's reaction appeared to one of shock.

Now, if you really think that there is that much difference between Fox an CNN, and not just the illusion of an adversarial relationship then you have been living under a rock.

And as far as political parties go... A handful of differences on social issues? A few differences in the way they amass power and wealth? And until not so recently, a few differences in foreign policy? These are suppose to convince us that there are significant differences between Democrats and Republicans? Tories, Liberals, and Labor? Likud and the latest reinvention of Israel's Labor Party?

Likewise, if you really believe that the State will allow a mainstream news source to exist which will actually criticize it positions, then you have been living in a very deep hole.


Anyway, I'll bet that the only thing Prime Minister and Communications Minister Netanyahu cares about is making Israel Today, which is in his corner, seem more mainstream an legitimate. Maybe one of these new news stations will just be a reflection of Israel Today's print version anyway.

The invention of more news sources will just be another rouse, an illusion, an opportunity to try to convince us of the existence  of free speech in this country. And certainly anything Torah related presented, other than kashruth and Shabbath -- not to mention further attempts at passing off mamlakhtiyuth (die-hard State loyalism) as Torah -- anything other than these topics will immediately be labeled as extremist, and a threat to the "democratic" State of Israel.

Of course, in this case, "they" would be correct.