HAIFA, September 28, 2017 (WAFA) – In an unprecedented move, Israel said it will allow the Arabic-language Hala television network to broadcast on Yom Kippur, a Jewish holiday when Israeli Hebrew-language television stations go off the air for 24 hours, in accordance with Israeli state broadcasting regulations, the Haifa-based Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel said on Thursday.
Adalah filed a petition to the Supreme Court against Israeli Communications Minister Ayoob Kara and Israel’s Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Council arguing that ban on TV broadcast during Yom Kippur violates freedom of expression, press freedom and freedom from religious coercion.
The state responded on Tuesday to the petition filed the day before in which it said that it also intended to re-examine the ban on television broadcasts during future commemorations of Yom Kippur.
According to Israel’s Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Council regulations, stations operating under its authority are currently banned from broadcasting during Yom Kippur.
Starting two weeks prior to Yom Kippur 2016, and throughout the intervening period, Hala TV had appealed to the council and to the Communications Ministry for permission to continue their regular broadcasts during the holiday.
The state, however, repeatedly postponed a decision on Hala TV’s requests – effectively banning the station’s broadcasts last year during Yom Kippur – until Adalah filed its petition early this week.
Adalah Attorney Mohammad Bassam and Hala TV’s legal advisor attorney Nahshon Axelrad stressed in the Supreme Court petition that the station’s programming is intended for the Arab public and it should therefore be permitted to broadcast during Yom Kippur:
“This is a license to operate a dedicated channel in the Arabic language, intended for the Arab population in Israel, which has no religious, cultural, or social connection to Yom Kippur. This coercion deals a serious blow to freedom of religion.”
The petition also emphasized that shutting down the station on Yom Kippur violated the right to freedom of expression, both of the Arab public and of Hala TV itself:
“A directive ordering a media outlet that broadcasts exclusively to the Arab public in the Arabic language not to broadcast during a Jewish holiday seriously impinges upon the free expression of the Arab public and upon the free expression and journalistic freedom of [Hala TV] and its employees.”
M.K.
