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.

Yo"Sh's New [Sham] Local Radio Station

Mossa'ei Shabbath Qodesh Parshath Mishpatim 5768

Last week, "Radiosh" was granted the tender of the recently created (read: "legalized") local broadcasts for Yehudah and Shomron (Judea & Samaria). The name is a contraction of "radio" and "yosh," which itself is an abbreviation for Yehudah weShomron. Finally, we are seeing the "A" (Azza) removed from YeSh"A. Although I am not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing.

Interestingly enough Radiosh was the only candidate.

As you would imagine, much of Left is up in arms.

Gush Shalom spokesman Adam Keller said that Radiosh violated the specifically non-political character of state-licensed commercial radio.

"This station will broadcast messages in favor of settlement, and that's a radical departure from the state policy for regional radio stations. If licenses are being given by the state to the extreme Right for the creation of political radio stations, then the Left should get a license, too." (JPost)

Um,...Hello?! The Left should get one, too? They already have, like all the rest, with few exceptions such as Radio Breslov and the Sh"aS radio station.

Surprisingly, not all Left-wingers are against the idea.

Arutz 7 (Hebrew) reports that Moti Raz of Peace Now believes that everyone has a right to have a radio station which expresses its community's political views, whether it is Arutz 7 or Arutz 77. The issue for him is that it should be legal.

The general manager of the new "Settler Radio Station" Yehoshu'a Mor-Yoesf. You may recognize his name. He is the former YeSh"A Council spokesman from Ofra, who shaved his beard in an attempt any associations with being "one of those extremists." He resigned his position with the YeSh"A Council three years ago, initially denying the rumor that he was to accept the position of spokesman for the Foreign Ministry under Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom. The "official" reason he resigned was in protest of the YeSh"A Council's call to disobey the Israeli government's "Disengagement Law."

In other words, Mor-Yosef was against disobeying an evil, anti-Torah law, because it was a dictate of the "almighty" government.

After the K'far Maimon incident, where the YeSh"A Council's collaboration with the illegitimate, Expulsion government became apparent to even the most naive Jew, we all knew that the YeSh"A Council's words were meaningless (although not the first time) only comprising an act of pseudo-rebellion. Surely Mor-Yosef must have known this. And, in case you were wondering, Mor-Yosef did indeed step up to the plate as the Foreign Ministry spokesman.

The rumor which cannot be confirmed is that his position would give him the power to protect his hometown of Ofra from any future expulsion of Jews and destruction of towns. Obviously, that power was insufficient to protect Ofra's neighboring hilltop community of Amona, assuming an attempt was made.

Incidentally, Amona has placed an ad looking to hire a mazkir (town manager). It is such a small community, I wondered what they would do with a full-time mazkir. The ad said that the position was full-time. The government has place a freeze on housing. Some mazkirim manage two, if not three small towns such as Amona. I find it curious that Amona requires a full-time mazkir, and that the residents can even afford one. The only thing that can be gleaned from this is that Amona wants independence from Ofra. But with the likes of Mor-Yosef I cannot blame them for seeking autonomy in order to follow their own path.

But I digress....

Guess who is the operator of this new local Yehudah and Shomron radio station? You may recognize his name, too. The Arutz Sheva's Hebrew weekly "b'Sheva" reposrts that it is none other than Tzvi Shalom. And you guessed it. He IS a relative of former FM Silvan Shalom, his brother in fact.

It is not clear to me as to why Arutz Seva (Israel National Radio) did not apply. Did they already know they would not be granted the tender, and thus did not bother? Was Arutz Sheva told not to bother?

In his own words, he said that "Radiosh would be nationalist, patriotic and pro-Zionist, but it would also be open-minded and pluralistic" (JPost).

Adam, are you seriously worried that "Radiosh" will be a representative of the right-wing voice in Yehudah and Shomron?

With Mor-Yosef in charge, you shouldn't be.

Just exactly whose views will be expressed on Israel's "Radiosh?" Yo"Sh's? Or Israeli Radio's?

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Thanks to Chaim Ben-Pesah for pointing the way to the "with beard" photo. Check out his article "The Traitors Who Run The Yesha Council."