On Sunday, the Attorney General issued a letter to government workers, instructing them to disregard the government’s unanimous resolution to cut funding to Haaretz.
On Sunday, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara issued a letter to government workers, instructing them to disregard the government’s unanimous resolution to cut funding to Haaretz.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, who led the push to end public funding for Haaretz, responded: “This latest letter is not only a tiresome repetition of baseless arguments, it reflects an arrogant bureaucratic mindset that refuses to respect the will of the people,” he said.
Karhi criticized the Attorney General’s appeal to freedom of expression, claiming it was being used to justify continued financial support for a publication that, in his view, “incites against the government, slanders IDF soldiers, hurts bereaved families, and acts as a platform for our most dangerous adversaries, both foreign and domestic.”
He went on to accuse the Attorney General of overstepping her authority: “For the second time in three months, she has effectively nullified a government decision, as if she were the Prime Minister. In a democracy, it is the people who decide, not a small group of legal activists with hollow rulings. The government is elected; the officials are appointed. That hierarchy must be respected.”
Minister Karhi concluded: “We will continue to enforce the government’s decision. There will be no public funding for Haaretz in any form.”
